Teana's Travels Book 30: Foes Old & New
by D.K.N
Summary: The heroes of the Dimensional Defense Force encounter new trouble as enemies old and new emerge. Scores will be settled, sleeping power will be unlocked, and battles will be won and lost as the heroes face some of their toughest challenges yet. Rated M for violence and language.
1. Old Scores

I've got quite a bit planned for this Book; more than one plot thread will be brought to conclusion here… Note that while it starts with _Touhou_ stuff, it will move on into original territory.

…As a fair warning, I believe I should confess something: I've never actually played _Touhou_. I've read plot and character synopses on Wikipedia and TV-Tropes, I've read some fanfics and some _dōjinshi_, but I haven't actually seen the source material. So, if I get any details or characterizations or abilities wrong, please don't be too horribly angry at me.

**THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY**

_Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha _(Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs

_Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni _(Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen

_Shuffle!_ (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread

_Erika's New Perfume _(Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'

_Mai-chan's Daily Life _(Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga

_Star Wars _(Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, _Force Unleashed_ cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm

_Halo_ (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries

_StarCraft_ (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment

_Naruto_ (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto

_Mahō Sensei Negima _(characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu

_Kingdom Hearts _(characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix

_Neon Genesis Evangelion _(characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax

_Elfen Lied _(Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms

_Red vs. Blue _(The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth

_My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic_ – Hasbro, Lauren Faust

_Transformers Film Series _– Hasbro, Michael Bay

_Transformers: Beast Wars _– Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment

_Yu-Gi-Oh! _– Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media

_Sonic the Hedgehog _– SEGA

_Gears of War _– Epic Games

_Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles _– Columbia Tristar (I think)

_Mass Effect _– Bioware

_Metroid _– Nintendo

_Puella Magi Madoka Magica _– Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT

_The Legend of Zelda _– Nintendo

_Tōhō _– ZUN

_RWBY _– Rooster Teeth

_Pretty Cure / PreCure_ – Toei Animation

_Kill La Kill _– Trigger

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

**-****_BOOK 30 START_****-**

**Realm ZT4-b**

Amidst a quiet forest of bamboo, there was an echoing chime-like noise as a magic rune-circle appeared on the ground. In a flash of light, multiple people appeared standing atop it: Teana, Marie, Naruto, Sasuke, Reisen, Sunset, and Itachi.

"So this is your world, eh Reisen?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah" the rabbit-girl replied. "And… I know this place. We aren't too far from where I used to live, and from… _her_."

"Where are we, exactly?" Marie asked.

"_Mayoi no Chikurin_ {迷いの竹林}" Reisen replied. "The 'Bamboo Forest of the Lost'. _Eientei _– the mansion where I was _her_ trodden-upon servant – is deep in the heart of this forest."

"So where do we go from here?" Teana asked.

"That's an awfully good question."

The group turned at the new voice, seeing someone emerging from the bamboo. She looked somewhat young, perhaps a little older than Teana and those in her age group, with a slightly petite build, and very long white hair that reached nearly to her ankles with two side-tails starting halfway down and tied by three red-tipped white ribbons each, and a similar large white ribbon with red markings on it atop her head. She was wearing a loose buttoned off-white shirt over her small chest, along with a pair of red trousers with suspender straps that went up and over her shoulders. The red irises of her eyes seemed to smolder with an inner fire, gazing at the DDF group with suspicion and cautious curiosity. Upon seeing Reisen, she gave a slight nod of recognition, which the rabbit-girl returned.

"Mokō-san," Reisen said to the newcomer, "this group is part of the 'Dimensional Defense Force' I am now a member of; this is my teammate and… 'friend' Sunset Shimmer, our _sensei _Uchiha Itachi, Itachi-sensei's younger brother Sasuke and their cousin Teana, Teana-san's teammate Marie Swanson, and Sasuke-kun's teammate Uzumaki Naruto. Guys, this is this is Fujiwara Mokō. I believe I mentioned her a few times."

"Yes," Itachi replied, "a Hōrai-class immortal like your two former… 'owners'. And the nemesis of one of them."

"Of the other one besides my target, yes. Fujiwara-san is the sworn enemy of Hōraisan Kaguya, while my former master and now enemy is her direct subordinate and partner, Yagokoro Eirin."

"So the rumor was true…" Mokō said. "I heard you had gone against Yagokoro and struck out on your own."

"That's part of the story" Reisen replied. "Have a seat; we'll explain things with some more detail."

The explanations in question took nearly an hour, partly because a fair few concepts and terms had to be explained to Mokō, with the immortal in turn explaining her own grievances with the _Eientei_ leaders.

"So," Mokō sighed, "we've both been wronged by those two… Reisen… wanna team up? We can fight them together. I can heal you mid-fight if need be so you can keep up with me. I have a special fire that can 'burn away' a person's injuries, restoring them."

"Eh? …Um… sure. I'll take all the help I can get!" She nodded, her expression hardening. "We can both make the people who've made us suffer _pay_ for it."

"Careful not to slip too far, Reisen" Itachi warned her. "I'd hate to lose you to the darkness."

"R-Right…"

"All the same," Marie spoke up, "do you two really think you can pull this off? I mean, Reisen's been training a lot, but from what I hear those two are powerhouses. Plus, with how many times Mokō's fought them they probably know her moves by now…"

"Well, do we have a way to fix that?" Sunset asked. "If any of the locals sensed our incursion, we might not have much time to prepare for anything."

"Actually…" Teana replied, pulling a Capsule-Corp capsule out of her jacket pocket.

**-****_SCENE BREAK_****-**

**Eientei Mansion**

**Several Hours Later**

The sun was starting to set over the realm of Gensokyō. Within a mansion deep in the heart of the bamboo forest, a sigh was let out by a woman apparently of young-middle age, but actually much, _much _older. She was clad in a red and blue dress (red on the upper right and lower left, blue on the upper left and lower right), and her long silver hair was in a braid that reached down past her hips, crowned by a blue hat with a large red cross and six surrounding white dots.

Eirin Yagokoro's thoughts were distracting her from her work. It had been months now since life at this house suffered a fairly large change. She had severely misjudged Reisen's feelings about… well, pretty much everything; though apparently grateful and docile on the surface, over the years her bottled-up resentment and anger had grown and grown, made worse by Tewi's pranks targeting her and fairly often getting her blamed for any resultant damage. Tewi was, of course, in huge trouble after Eirin learned all that (via Reisen pinning Tewi up against a wall by the throat and chewing her out for it, right after she punched Eirin through a few walls); in addition to a hard and thorough spanking the night after Reisen left (augmented by an experimental new 'endorphin inhibitor' that prevented Tewi's backside from compensating for or becoming adjusted to or numbed by the pain, so that each strike hurt just as much as, if not a little more than, the last one), Eirin was now working the little bunny-girl like a dog, and taking a zero-tolerance approach to any mischief or sass. She'd cost Eirin her number-one assistant, after all.

Eirin wondered what had ever happened to Reisen. She hadn't been seen nor heard from by anyone since the day she left _Eientei_. Had she found someplace out-of-the-way to settle down? Had she left Gensokyō altogether, ventured out into the human world? …Or was she dead, killed by a stronger, hostile _Yōkai_? Or maybe captured by Lunarian hunters…?

Suddenly, she was pulled out of her thoughts as she sensed a brief flare of magical energy practically right outside the mansion, and the way it 'felt' it was most certainly deliberate – a call for her and/or Kaguya-sama's attention. As she headed down the mansion's entrance hallway toward the front door, she was joined by Kaguya-sama – a girl who looked to be in her late teens or early 20s by human standards but was – like Eirin – considerably older, slightly petite with long straight black hair, wearing a pink blouse and long red skirt. Tewi – a little girl with rounded bunny-ears sprouting from the top of her head and a fluffy white tail, wearing a pale-pink dress – followed behind them.

When they stepped outside, they saw a group of several people standing just outside the mansion boundary, some of them hidden from the trio's view behind the others. The two at the head of the group – a girl with long reddish-orange hair and a boy with spiky blond hair – stepped forward.

"Hōraisan Kaguya and Yagokoro Eirin?" the girl asked.

Eirin nodded as she and Kaguya stepped forward. "What business do you have here?" she asked.

"We are members of a multi-Realm coalition titled the Dimensional Defense Force," the young man with short black hair and wearing a black cloak with red flames replied from his place near the back, "a group of individuals and sovereign powers committed to protecting the Realms' inhabitants from various threats. My name is Itachi. As for why we are here, well… two of my three students have come to challenge you."

The group members at the front parted, revealing three girls who stepped forward. Sunset Shimmer, hanging back a little with her arms folded, had let her gold-streaked red hair grow down to her upper back over the past couple months, and was wearing an open black jacket over a dark-purple shirt, black jeans and black boots, as well as the pendant that was her dormant Storage Device hanging from her neck. Reisen was wearing a light-grey shirt, made loose but worn tight due to the size of her breasts, with a navy-blue open jacket, and a knee-length pink skirt over black shoes with armor plates over the toes, as well as a thin belt with the hilts of her single-prong plasma blades clipped to it; she stood with fists clenched low by her sides. Lastly, Mokō was now wearing a loose dull-red top and matching pants along with what could only be described as armored sandals, and had one hand on her hip as she joined Reisen in glaring at the group before her.

"Reisen…?" Eirin gasped softly.

"Mokō?" Kaguya said curiously. "And Inab… Reisen-chan, too? …Wait, 'students'?"

"The day I left this place," Reisen replied, "Itachi-sensei rescued me from Lunarian Hunters. He brought me with him back to DDF space, took me under his wing as a student in the shinobi arts and other forms of learning and training, and I've learned a great deal. A few months ago, he also took Sunset here as a second student. Not too long ago, we finally came back here to Gensokyō, and Mokō-san found us right away. We explained things to her, she came with us for a little extra training, and she and Itachi-sensei chose to have her become his third student."

"He may be only 22 years old," Mokō spoke up, "but he's wise, and he's _very _powerful and skilled. When we had a sparring match so he could measure my abilities, he won rather easily; he was so strong, and fast, and skilled, and so adept at reading and predicting my movements and actions… After I'd recovered, he offered to take me on as a third student, and seeing how handily he defeated me, I accepted, so that maybe I could learn how to fight like that."

"_Nii-san_ has never lost a serious fight" Sasuke remarked with a small smile. "During the four-way free-for-all sparring fights he and I have with Teana and her brother, those two and I have to team up 3-on-1 to overcome him, and even then sometimes he manages a draw or a narrow win."

"Of course," Itachi chimed in, "I am neither the strongest nor the most skilled fighter in the Dimensional Defense Force; there are quite a few who could defeat me even if I fought at full power – Goku-san, Jiraiya-sama, the stronger alicorns…"

"In any case," Naruto spoke up, "these two have scores to settle with you. Of course, if we fought _here_, we might destroy this place, so…"

The DDF group bunched together, making physical contact with Naruto or with someone who was doing so. Eirin, Kaguya, and Tewi were then caught by surprise as three of Naruto's Shadow Clones snuck up behind them and laid a hand on each of them. Then, the entire group vanished.

Everyone experienced brief flashes of other locales as a rapid series of 'jumps' was made. After four such jumps, they finally stopped, finding themselves in a mountainous rocky area considerably far from where they started, and from any signs of habitation. There were a couple more Shadow Clones here.

"W… What the heck was that?" Tewi asked, looking around.

"That was my _Hiraishin no Jutsu_" Naruto replied. "The user, and anyone in contact with them, can teleport to anything or anyone marked with a special seal. My father was famous because of his mastery of it, and recently I finally managed to nail it down using the notes he left behind. Though, there is a range limit, but to get around that I sent out Shadow Clones – each marked with the seal – to different points all over this region. I had them find a suitably empty place to hold a big battle, and then used the ones between this area and the place where we started as 'beacons' for a _Hiraishin_ relay-point network. …Heh. Dad never thought to do _that_ to extend his range with it! …Of course, he could 'jump' greater distances than I currently can, so he didn't really _need _to…"

"Now then," Reisen said as she and Mokō stepped forward, "shall we begin?"

"I'll be sitting this out," Sunset said, "but if someone joins in on you people's side I'll join in to support my team."

"If they are sufficiently powerful," Itachi chimed in, "_I_ will be intervening."

"Reisen, _please_…" Eirin said, softly and imploringly. "Do we really have to do this?"

"Do you _really_ have to ask that?" the rabbit _Yōkai_ snarled to her former master. "You treated me like a slave! You used me as a guinea pig for all those stupid medicines you cooked up! And you punished me for things _that_ little brat did!" she pointed at Tewi.

"Um…" Kaguya spoke up. "If it's any consolation, later the day you left Eirin punished Tewi quite a bit once she figured out what had really happened…"

The little bunny-girl's hand drifted unconsciously to her backside at the memory.

"That doesn't make up for everything that happened! For the way you treated me, for the things you did to me! I'm not here for apologies or excuses! I'm here for revenge!"

"And as for me," Mokō said, "all the times I've tried to get revenge against _you_," she glared at Kaguya, "it hasn't worked well; we keep drawing instead of having any clear victor most of the time, and when one of us _does_ win it's more often than not you, and we both regenerate afterward anyway. …Maybe this time, with an ally at my side, things will be different."

Tewi and the others of the DDF group were teleported away to a waiting Shadow Clone a few hundred meters away, overlooking the battleground but with a safe distance from it. The two pairs squared off, staring each other down. Soon they floated up into the air, preparing for an aerial battle.

"I've been waiting for this for a _long_ time…" Reisen said in a low, threatening tone.

"Inaba… Reisen, please" Kaguya tried. "Can't we talk this out? And Mokō, can we just… let things drop, at least for now?"

(FIGHT MUSIC: Breaking Point – "Falling Down")

In response, Reisen's and Mokō's auras flared up, ki and magic flowing through and around them. The wind almost seemed to coalesce and swirl around Reisen's body, while Mokō's hands became wreathed in flame.

"No more talking" Mokō snarled. "No letting go! This is what we've been training for – what we've yearned for!"

"As Mokō says," Reisen said, "the time for talking is past! Now shut up and fight!-!"

Mokō made the first move, launching a fireball nearly twice as big as herself at Kaguya. A half-second later, Reisen had formed hand-seals and cast _Fūton: Shinkūgyoku_, launching a barrage of high-velocity compressed-air 'bullets' at Eirin. Both Lunarians raised Shield spells to block the attacks, and were surprised that the Shields took noticeable damage. They didn't have much time to get over their surprise, though, as the moment they dropped the Shields, Reisen and Mokō were in their faces, lashing out with fast and crushingly powerful blows. The Lunarian duo was forced to give ground (er, air) in the face of the dual assault; Reisen had so much power packed into her rapid blows that Eirin's arms hurt from blocking them even with how much physical reinforcement magic she was channeling, while steam flew from Kaguya's hands – surrounded by quickly-conjured Water magic – as she struggled to block Mokō's furious fiery fists.

The Lunarian pair finally managed to land a few attacks after several seconds on the defensive – Eirin spun around a swing and lashed out with a straight kick to the midsection while Kaguya managed a counter-backhand, both of them sending Reisen and Mokō back about a dozen meters. They followed that with a wave of _danmaku _– small white bolts of magical energy – sent at the revenge-seeking duo, but the other pair got in close together, and Reisen conjured a swirling Wind-magic barrier around them both, deflecting the bolts.

Upon dispelling the Wind barrier, Reisen pulled from her belt the hilts of her two plasma blades, activating them with a flourish. Mokō followed suit by summoning a sort of polearm called a _guan dao_ – a staff of enchanted wood and steel tipped by an elegantly curved dark-red metal blade. They rushed in at Eirin and Kaguya again, and the Lunarian duo had to move fast to dodge the swings and stabs. Eventually, they got through; Kaguya let out a strangled cry as the blade of Mokō's _guan dao_ pierced through her chest right next to her heart, while Reisen speared her two plasma blades through Eirin's lower chest and then sliced outward, almost bisecting her except for an inch-wide section of flesh and bone between the two blades' impalement points. The blade-wielding du followed with matching kicks that broke a few ribs on top of the blade damage, sending Eirin and Kaguya hurtling back.

The two immortals quickly regenerated, though the memory of the heavy pain was still there, as was the shock that Reisen had actually gone for a fatal blow (they expected it from Mokō by this point). Gathering themselves, they summoned their own weapons; Eirin now wore a pair of small forearm-mounted shields, each with a single blade/spike that stuck out over and past the tops of her hands (a traditional Lunarian melee weapon), while Kaguya conjured a _naginata _(a polearm similar to Mokō's). Steeling their resolve, they charged at their attackers. The sound of clashing metal and (enchanted, nigh-indestructible) wood rang out as Kaguya and Mokō exchanged strikes, while Reisen found her attempts to slice and stab Eirin stopped by the enchanted metal of her paired shields. Soon, Mokō and Reisen abruptly flash-stepped back, weaving hand-seals and taking deep breaths.

"_Katon: Gōkakyū_!"

"_Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku_!"

A sizable fireball and a large 'cannonball' of compressed air and concussive force were exhaled out toward the Lunarian duo at high speed. Kaguya countered with a barrage of _danmaku _that just barely managed to cancel out the fireball, while Eirin 'braced' herself in her midair spot, channeled defensive magic through her upper body and crossed her forearm shields out front, wincing as the concussive wind blast shoved her back a few meters and made her arms ache and sting. After a second's recovery, Eirin went on the offensive, charging toward Reisen. However, just before she reached the rabbit _Yōkai_, Mokō intercepted her, catching her blow and striking with a kick that sent her rocketing backward. Next, Mokō flashed towards Kaguya, whose eyes widened as she brought her _naginata _up to block Mokō's _guan-dao_, straining to push back against the fire-user's enhanced strength. In this position and distracted state, she failed to notice Reisen appearing behind her until it was too late, and she let out a strangled gasp as one of the bunny-girl's plasma blades pierced her chest from behind. Reisen followed the stab with a palm-strike that sent Kaguya forward, and Mokō grabbed her by the ankle and swung & threw her at the rapidly-approaching Eirin as hard as she could, knocking her back even as she caught her wounded and regenerating mistress. Stunned by the sudden impact, Eirin looked up just in time to see Reisen and Mokō weaving hand-seals together, synchronizing their energies.

"_Katon: Zukokku_!"

"_Fūton: Atsugai_!"

The wave of flames released by Mokō was followed immediately by a large and tightly-focused vortex of wind from Reisen. When the wind technique caught up to the fire one from behind, it merged with and magnified it, creating a massive whirling firestorm that completely engulfed Eirin and Kaguya, the roaring inferno drowning out all other sound. Reisen and Mokō caught their breath as they watched.

"That wasn't enough, was it?" Reisen asked.

"Not likely, no" Mokō replied.

They kept their guards up, and sure enough the flames parted and died away to reveal Eirin and Kaguya hovering beside each other, their wounds regenerated.

"You're really going to make us do this, Reisen…" Eirin spoke softly, head down so that her frown could be seen but her eyes were hidden by her bangs. "You never _told_ me how much you had come to hate it with us… though, I suppose I might not have believed you if you had… Even though I wronged you, and misjudged your feelings… I still cared for you, as my precious number-one student. But now… if you truly hate me so much… if you're so intent on severing that bond that you would strike lethal blows against both me and Kaguya-sama… then I don't have any other choice. If you're going to throw all your hatred and resentment at me and Kaguya-sama, then I'll show you what a Lunarian Sage can do!"

"Bring it, you manipulative bitch" Reisen snarled. "I'll kill you 10,000 times if that's what it takes! I don't care what lies you try to tell about 'caring' for me, when all you and Kaguya saw me as was a servant, a guinea pig, and a _pet_!"

They flew towards each other, with Mokō and Kaguya splitting off to fight each other at the same time. Reisen sent out a wave of mana bolts that curved and juked through the air in random patterns, more difficult to track or predict, but Eirin simply formed a Shield spell that blocked them all. The older woman then formed a three-dimensional circular 'column' of _danmaku _with a rounded 'tip' [AN: picture from _The Grimoire of Marisa_, also seen in Eirin's entry on en-dot-touhouwiki-dot-net] and fired them as if they were a single large missile-shaped projectile. With the speed of the compound-blast, Reisen couldn't dodge in time, and even though she raised a Shield spell she cried out as part of the barrage managed to break through and strike her. Panting a little, she growled and her eyes flashed red. Eirin was then facing a dozen Reisens, the illusions so masterfully crafted that even she couldn't discern the real one yet, and each one of them sent a wave of wind blades at her.

Meanwhile, Kaguya and Mokō continued their clash, their weapons a blur as they struck and parried.

"Why are you so completely obsessed with revenge against me, Fujiwara?" Kaguya said as she strained to push back against Mokō's weapon.

"You know damn well why" the other immortal growled. "After what you did to my father…!"

"He cheated! All I did was call him out for that in front of the others!"

"You know nothing about how our system of the time worked! Our family was disgraced! We lost our standing, our money, our honor! My father was branded as scum and tormented until he took his own life! My mother slit her own throat to prevent being taken as a slave by another clan! I was almost sold into prostitution to keep food on the table, and I only avoided that by running away, and finding and consuming what was left of that damned Elixir of yours! I spent over 1,000 long, miserable years as an outcast and pariah because of my immortality; for 300 years I was violently insane and killed anything in sight, and for 300 after that I lay in a cave and did _nothing_, constantly dying of starvation or dehydration only to revive and go through it all over again! You, little pampered princess, can never understand the _hell _I've been through! You sullied my honor! You destroyed my family!-! _You ruined my life!-!_"

By the end, Mokō's aura was surging like an inferno, and she sent Kaguya hurtling back with a rib-shattering, organ-rupturing kick. As Kaguya came to a halt several meters away, groaning as she let her internal damage regenerate, she sensed a sudden massive flare of ki/chakra building up in Mokō. The white-haired girl began concentrating her power and her visual focus, preparing to cast her newest 'ultimate' technique – the pinnacle of her flame-manipulation powers, something she'd been working on for years, finally helped to finish by Itachi-sensei, the embodiment of her pitch-black burning rage:

"_Katon: Amaterasu!-!_"

At the last instant, Kaguya felt an instinctual flash of panic and terror without knowing why, and she began to move to the side. This was all that saved her from having her head set ablaze. As it was, she cried out in shocked pain as a burst of jet-black flames erupted halfway up her arm, and began to spread up and down it. Panicking as she realized what it was, she immediately used the blade of her _naginata _to lop her burning arm off just below the shoulder. As it plummeted, the flames rapidly consumed it, working to burn it to ashes. She turned her gaze back to Mokō (who was panting slightly, the blood vessels of her eyes standing out), with a shocked expression as her arm re-grew.

"Black hellfire…" she whispered with shock and horror.

Kaguya's shock was for two reasons. First was finding out just how badly Mokō's life had been because of what had happened 1,500 years ago. Second was that Mokō could wield what she did. In the entire Universe, all the Realms, the number of things that could cancel out or overcome a Hōrai Immortal's regeneration and immortality and actually _kill_ them could be counted on one hand. Black hellfire was one of them. There was nothing it could not burn – water, other fire, legend had it that it could even burn immaterial Concepts… Flames from the absolute center of the deepest level of Hell, supposedly used against only the blackest-hearted of evil souls consigned to that realm after death, so dangerous that even the lord of Hell himself dared not touch it… And Mokō could summon it. Ancient rumors spoke of beings of another realm who bore a special bloodline that enabled them to summon it at will. But for someone without that bloodline to conjure it forth would only be possible with one other prerequisite…

"Mokō…" Kaguya whispered. "All this time… I thought you took our feud as a game… You… You truly hate me _that_ much? You can actually summon black hellfire… because of how strong your hatred of me is?"

Though they could use it freely after 'awakening' it even if their Hearts were later cleansed of darkness, outside of the mysterious rumored other-realmers only those with mastery over Fire who were subsumed in the deepest, blackest depths of vile hatred of something or someone could awaken the ability to call forth this power.

"About time you got it through your thick skull…" Mokō replied with a snarl, the irises of her eyes now visibly gold in color. "The torments you have directly and indirectly put me through… can never, _ever_ be forgiven…"

Mokō then charged Kaguya, closing into melee range again and beginning another lightning-fast exchange of blows and close-range _danmaku_. And now, even as she fought for her life, Kaguya was crying; unnoticed by Mokō, tears intermittently fell from the moon princess' eyes – from guilt over how much pain and suffering her casual-to-her act long ago had caused the other girl, and heartbreak that the girl whom she had thought was a trusted friend instead hated her more than anything else in the world.

"_Sagitta Magica: Series Lucis_!"

A barrage of Light-type magical arrows came at Eirin from the multiple Reisens she was facing. She grunted as she raised a powerful Shield to block the blows, and then finally made her counterattack. Having memorized and tracked all the bunny-girls shooting at her as best she could, she quickly conjured several precision mana bolts and fired them at each one. …And she gasped in surprise as _all_ the Reisens vanished as illusions.

'Where's the real one?-!' she thought.

The answer came in the form of a kick to the back of her head, followed by something spherical and glowing blue being slammed into and adhered to her mid-back as Reisen then flash-stepped back for safety. The detonation of the plasma grenade almost-completely blew Eirin in half, but even as she fell from the sky while slowly regenerating she conjured and fired a tightly focused wave of _danmaku _up at Reisen, dealing some damage. Reisen growled as she used what little healing magic she knew to repair some of it, and then she dove down at Eirin with blades ready, while Eirin finished regenerating and shot upward to meet her. The clash when they met sent out a shockwave audible over a mile away.

**-****_Break_****-**

The battle continued well through the night. With Mokō using her special fire to heal any serious injuries Reisen took and partially recharge her, all four of the combatants continued beating each other senseless into the wee hours of the morning. Finally, the glow that preceded sunrise became visible on the eastern horizon. Mokō and Kaguya were on the ground several meters away from each other; it could not be told if they were conscious or not, but it was clear that neither had any energy left to continue their fight for now.

Reisen and Eirin stood facing each other, hunched over as they panted for breath, both of them exhausted. Reisen gritted her teeth as she struggled up to standing straight, glaring at her enemy.

"If I can't overcome you," she panted out, "then I'll at least make… you experience torment equivalent to what you've put me through! _Genjutsu: Tsukuyomi_!"

Reisen's eyes flashed bright red, and Eirin's eyes went wide and blank as the technique took effect. After a few seconds, her eyes rolled up, and she collapsed unconscious. Reisen allowed herself a tiny grin, before she finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell backwards. As the long-watching DDF group finally began moving in to gather the four battered and unconscious combatants, the top 'edge' of the sun peeked out over the horizon, beginning its rise over Gensokyō.

**-****_CHAPTER END_****-**

Next Time: a specter of the past emerges – a new comrade of old foes, looking for some fun and some payback


	2. Black Clouds

*slow, deep breath/sigh* Here we go…

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

**-**_**CHAPTER START**_**-**

**Realm ZT4-b**

In the wake of the battle, the four combatants were still recovering from exhaustion. Kaguya was the first to wake up, and she was still quite upset over how badly she'd misjudged the situation between her and Mokō. Eirin was next up; she was still badly shaken by the aftereffects and memory of the _Tsukuyomi_ Reisen had hit her with, as well as upset that her former student hated her so much, and forgiveness & reconciliation looked to be completely impossible.

As they met with him in the dining room for breakfast, the Lunarian pair was very thankful that Reisen & Mokō's new _sensei _was much calmer and more personable than his still-hateful students. Itachi-san was very polite, friendly and easygoing, as he talked with them. He gave them more detailed explanations about the DDF, shocking the duo with just how big things really were; not to mention, Itachi and his brother & cousins were a member of that mysterious rumored bloodline that Kaguya had heard of who could summon black hellfire – the Uchiha clan, using their bloodline eyes the _Sharingan_ in their advanced '_Mangekyō_' form.

There were a couple other people at the table as well. Tewi was quiet, partly because she had nothing to say, partly because she was still afraid of overstepping any boundaries or rules Eirin had set, and partly because the little girl was really tired after being up all night watching the fight. Itachi's third student, Sunset, made it quietly clear via her expressions and mannerisms that she wasn't fond of Eirin or Kaguya, but this was mainly because of those girls' 'second-hand' influence; she had no personal grudge against them, no real hatred. Meanwhile, the others – Teana, Marie, Naruto, and Sasuke – were in another room, probably discussing plans while eating their own breakfast.

"I must say," Itachi continued after taking a sip of his tea, "when we learned of your name and origins, Kaguya-san, there was a bit of… worry amongst my group."

"Mm?" Kaguya tilted her head. "Why?"

"Naruto and Sasuke recently fought against and narrowly managed to defeat an extremely powerful being – a mad goddess, you could call her – of similar 'origin story' to yours… as well as name."

"Oh?" Eirin asked, now quite curious.

Itachi nodded. "Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."

At that, Eirin stiffened up and went pale, her eyes wide. "H… _Her_?" she squeaked out. "They fought _her_?-! They fought Realm-NTO's 'Mad Demon of the Moon' and lived to tell about it? They _beat_ her?-!"

"Well, they did not 'defeat' her in the traditional sense; even bearing the _Rikudo Sennin_'s power, they couldn't do that. Instead, they sealed her – trapped her in the heart of an artificial planetoid, sealed in an alternate dimension that only she had access to, meaning she can't get out on her own and there's no-one who can get in to let her out. She is contained, no longer a threat. …Though, we do have people from the TSAB monitoring that realm for any signs of activity nonetheless."

As Eirin breathed a sigh of relief, her princess looked to her with curiosity.

"Ō…tsutsuki…?" Hōraisen Kaguya asked.

"I'll tell you later, milady. Suffice to say, though, that… well, almost nobody in all of Gensokyō would be strong enough to even seriously harm her, most likely. Not even Kazami Yūka or Yakumo Yukari – two of the strongest in this Realm – could surpass her in power. And she was quite mad – her mind consumed by lust for power and the desire for control over everything & everyone."

"Though nothing is proven and may never be," Itachi continued, "there are suspicions amongst some of us that she may have been a Precursor."

"I wouldn't doubt it" Teana said as she, Sasuke, and Marie entered the room. "Morning, Itachi-_nii_."

"Got a bit of news, Itachi" Sasuke said. "The 'light show' last night was spotted by some people we'd rather not have seen it. But the situation's under control."

"Oh? How, exactly?" the older Uchiha asked.

Sasuke smirked. "Right now, there are four _Sanghelios_-class battlecruisers holding position over the Lunarian capital, with plasma-torpedo blasters detectably charged and ready."

Eirin and Kaguya looked at him, deeply shocked.

"They were preparing to send out a huge force of soldiers and hunters to try and capture these two and Reisen. But when Shipmaster Arum heard about us heading here, he saw this coming, so he had his people lying in wait. Now, we have a quartet of capital ships hovering over their main city and their military center, and the message they're sending – both verbal and implied – is abundantly clear: Reisen is one of ours, so _don't try anything_. Considering that one plasma torpedo can destroy most of the average city, and they're being faced with seven launchers per ship across four ships, I don't think they're willing to risk it trying to get Reisen back as their slave/pet again."

"And if they _do_ try?" Itachi asked.

"There are twelve more Sangheili ships waiting at a rally point – destroyers and standard cruisers led by two more battlecruisers; if they get the signal, they'll jump in and start shooting."

"My people tend to look down on shorter-lived, 'impure' beings…" Eirin said. "But even they will understand and reluctantly accept their current situation. I know them; they won't risk a full-fledged war that they'll almost certainly lose just to get three people."

Just then, Teana's Omnitool beeped and flashed. She activated it, reading the message she'd just been sent, and sighed.

"Well," she said, "duty calls. Gamma Team is needed elsewhere; we're going to work with a few people from Konoha and the Z-Group to investigate reports on another world."

Itachi nodded. "I'll stay here for a while longer" he replied. "I'll do my best in damage control once those two wake up, keep things as calm and civil as I can around here."

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

**Realm LN-34**

**Oberon Sector, Fae System, Planet Jin-Ya-Sai**

Upon arriving at their destination, Gamma Team had been split up and partnered with members of the other groups, forming mixed teams to scour different areas of the target continent for whatever was causing the anomalous readings. Right now, Teana was working with Marie, Chōji from the Konoha Group, and Tien from the Z-Group. Currently searching through a dry grassy area, they had yet to find anything worth notice.

Teana sighed. "I hate these boring search ops" she said. "Turning over rocks, hoping something crawls out…"

"And sometimes," Tien added, "whatever _does_ crawl out, you really wish it hadn't."

"Yeah…"

"And the weather's so gloomy…" Marie remarked, looking up at the cloudy grey sky.

"This kind of weather brings back bad memories…" Chōji murmured.

Teana was about to reply, when suddenly she saw something coming in. A second later, Tien startled and spun around to see a crimson _Ki_ blast right in front of his face, held in place and collapsing in on itself as it was sucked into another dimension. Teana sighed in relief, deactivating her _Mangekyō_.

"The chakra equivalent of a snipe-shot…" she muttered.

"Impressive reflexes, girl…" a deep voice stated.

Accompanied by swirling winds, a new figure appeared before the heroes. He was a Demon or _Mazōku_, around eight feet tall with dull-grey skin and eyes with gold irises and black sclera. Spiky black hair hung down almost to his shoulders, and he was clad partially in bronze-hued armor on his chest, back, lower legs, and forearms.

"…You have a connection to that 'Prism Gang' bunch my friends and I dealt with months ago, don't you?" Teana asked.

"Yes…" 'Bronze' replied. "So you're part of the group who disposed of them… I am part of a parallel group, the 'Rare Metal Trio'. …Well, 'Duo' now; our 'silver' member was slain in battle three years ago. In any case, I am aware that none of your 'heavy hitters' who actually killed our brethren – the red-haired boy and the two fused warriors – are present amongst you four. So, I believe I will take this opportunity to… remove a few potential future headaches…"

Picking up the implied threat, the quartet made ready, ki/chakra and mana being channeled through them. 'Bronze' let out a quiet "Hmph" and made a tiny amused smirk as he slowly clenched his fists, and then his dark-purple aura surged to life around him. Marie and Chōji gasped, while Tien and Teana visibly tensed and tried to hide their surprise and worry; this guy was markedly stronger than any of them.

Bronze made the first move, releasing a pulse of power and force that knocked all four DDF fighters away from him. A second later, Tien barely managed to bring his arms up in time to block a punch so strong it rattled his bones even with him reinforcing his body with _ki_ as much as he quickly could. Chōji came in with a sized-up punch, but Bronze caught the blow, being shoved back only about a foot. The demon then flash-stepped upwards, using his armguard to block a strike from Teana's Mirage Longsword that she'd been meaning to plunge downward into his skull from above, and before she could get over her instant of surprise he twisted around and hit her with a falling kick that sent her careening into the ground at an angle.

As Teana pulled herself together, Marie and Tien went on the attack. A barrage of Fire-type _Sagitta Magica_ and a double _Dodonpa_ lanced out, but did little damage to Bronze's thick hide and daemon-forged armor. Bronze pulled a short-range flash-step right into their faces and retaliated with a backhand strike that sent both of them flying. His upper body was then engulfed in smoke and fire as he was hit by a thrown kunai with explosive tag from Chōji. When that cleared, though, there was only a light scorch mark to show for it. When Chōji followed with another up-sized punch, Bronze simply caught him by the arm and made him punch himself in the face, knocking him for a loop.

A wave of Wind-enhanced fire came roaring in, and Bronze braced himself and raised a barrier that proved to be just enough to withstand it. As soon as the flames died, however, Teana was right there, lashing out with a punch from a Stage-0 _Susanō _arm. It broke through the weakened barrier and struck Bronze directly, sending him flying with considerable force. After a few dozen meters he regained control.

"Well," he remarked, "I felt _that_ one."

"You're gonna be feeling a lot more" Teana growled in reply.

She quick-fired a pair of _ki_ blasts and followed them with a Phantom Blazer, the two red-orange explosive/concussive blasts and the bright-orange beam of energy striking Bronze with a one-two blow that knocked him back, and also distracted him from what was coming.

"Divine Buster!"

"Tri-Beam!"

"_Nikudan Sensha_!"

A purple beam of magic and a yellow beam of _ki_ crashed down on Bronze from above, and a second later a large rapidly-rotating ball/wheel of sharp red spikes came barreling in from the side. However, the demon shrugged off the damage from the blasts and then planted his feet and thrusted his arms forward, pushing back against Chōji's attack, holding it in place. He then brought a leg back and kicked the transformed shinobi, sending Chōji hurtling across the grassy area. Then, Bronze rocketed upward, appearing in front of and slightly above Marie. He savored her look of shock and slight fear for a second, and then struck with a hammer blow that sent her straight down, kicking up a cloud of displaced soil and dust as she slammed into the ground.

Teana let out a panicked cry of her squadmate and close friend's name, but before she could even start to move Bronze appeared in front of her, and Teana was bent forward over his knee as it was rammed upward into her midsection, knocking the air out of her lungs. A backhand strike to the side of her head sent her tumbling, and when Tien rushed in to attack Bronze dodged faster than the eye could see, appearing right behind the three-eyed warrior with an elbow strike to the back that nearly broke something. He then grabbed Tien by the leg, swung him around and threw him, impacting Marie just as she painfully struggled to her feet.

"Damn it…" Teana gritted her teeth as she pressed against the cut on the side of her upper arm. "We need some help for this one."

"There is an energy field encompassing this area" Cross Mirage replied. "We cannot get communications out, and it is stopping any energy signatures from being sensed by those outside. Our allies have no way of knowing we are in trouble."

Hearing this, Teana had to fight back a twinge of panic; they were on their own against this guy. Bronze slowly floated down to the ground, arms crossed.

"Is this all you have?" he said to them. "Hardly entertaining…"

Teana and Marie charged at him from two directions, Mirage Longsword and Charon's energy blade at the ready. Bronze charged his power around and through his armguards, and moved his arms with startling speed to block the simultaneous flurries of blows being swung at him from either side. Seeing an opening, he grabbed the girls by their heads and then bashed them together, stunning them, and then sent them both flying with a pair of close-range _ki_ blasts.

Tien took up position overhead and unleashed a withering storm of energy blasts. The barrage was kept up for several seconds before Tien stopped, panting lightly as he looked down at the dust cloud. He was about to start charging up an extra-large blast to fire into the dust just to be sure, when suddenly Bronze came shooting up out of the smoke, shooting in beside Tien and hitting him with a kick that sent him careening down into the ground before he could react.

Bronze then sensed a flare of energy nearby, and turned to see Teana with feet planted wide and arms pulled back, an increasing amount of bright violet energy gathering between her palms as she prepared another of her paternal uncle's techniques. Bronze smirked and began gathering his own energy, deep red with wisps of black swirling around it. The ground beneath them buckled as they continued charging power. Finally, they both fired – Bronze's red and black energy wave against Teana's Galick Gun. The two waves/beams of _ki_ slammed into and pushed against each other, both combatants straining to overcome the other. The clashing energies lit up the area, casting shadows beneath the thickly overcast sky. One beam would grow thicker as its firer put more power into it, only for it to be pushed back again as the other followed suit. Finally, though, a victor was determined.

Teana's eyes widened in shock as her Galick Gun was slowly but surely pushed back, even though she was giving it everything she could spare. Bronze gave one final 'shove', and the redhead was seemingly engulfed in a massive explosion as her attack was completely overcome.

A few seconds later, as Chōji sat up with a groan, a hand held to his head, something came flying in and landed, skidding to a stop a few meters away from him. Teana looked considerably worse for wear; her Barrier Jacket was burnt and torn in several places, and she had multiple wounds all over. She was panting for breath, hunched over slightly, and surrounded by the shattered, warped remains of a Stage-0 _Susanō _ribcage – the only protection she'd been able to conjure at the last split second. She fell to one knee, letting out a sharp gasp as she did. Tien and Chōji were currently not doing so well, and she couldn't see Marie. The armored _mazōku _they were facing strode slowly toward her from a few dozen meters away, barely a scratch on him. With no way she could think of to beat him, and no way to call for help, she felt a spark of fear in her heart:

'A… Am I… going to die here?'

As 'Bronze' made his slow steps, he suddenly vanished mid-stride, and Teana saw stars as a rising knee hit her in the chin. The instant her body was made slightly airborne from the force, the _mazōku _grabbed her by the front and pulled her into another knee strike, this one to the midsection, almost making her throw up. As she was dropped to the ground, stunned, Tien charged in from the side, while Chōji got up and rushed in as well. Bronze simply blocked their barrage of attacks, and then hit them with simultaneous uppercuts followed by a roundhouse kick that sent both tumbling. Bronze walked over to Teana as she struggled to stand up, and she let out a sharp pained cry as he grabbed her by the hair and held her up partially.

"I'm bored now" he said. "This was sorta fun, but I think I'll just start killing you guys now. I'll start with you."

He pulled his other arm back, holding the hand and fingers in a spearing shape, even as the redhead glared defiantly at him (he smirked slightly as he could see the fear hidden behind/in those defiant eyes). Suddenly, however, just as he was about to strike, he abruptly released Teana's hair and spun around, grabbing Marie mid-leap. The teen's kunai flew out of her grip, and she let out a strained grasp as a huge hand wrapped around her throat. The 5'3" human struggled, legs kicking as she was lifted up by the throat by the 8-foot demon. He looked at her with a slight mixture of annoyance and amusement as she tried and failed to pry his grip off of her.

While holding Marie up with his right hand, Bronze abruptly held his left hand out from his body, summoning a dark-red Rune Shield that blocked the burst of black fire sent at him by Teana. The redhead, having spent what felt like the rest of her usable chakra with that desperate _Amaterasu_, collapsed to her knees, panting for breath as her eyes returned to their standard blue. Those eyes then widened in shock and slowly growing horror as Bronze's grip on Marie shifted from physical to telekinetic, holding her in front of his right hand as it moved down, the palm pointed right at her torso less than a foot away. With a sudden desperation, Teana conjured Crossfire Shot bolts and _Sagitta Magica_, but when they tried to curve around the shield it abruptly expanded, blocking them.

Marie gritted her teeth as the telekinetic grip squeezed her. "W… What the hell do you think you're trying to do," she growled out, "you hellspawn bast-"

There was a burst of light and force. The battlefield seemed to abruptly go silent, everything moving in slow motion. Marie was slowly flying backward, eyes wide and mouth open. She made just one action, coughing out a burst of blood, as she continued on a steady downward arc through the air, with a five-inch-wide hole blown clear through her chest. There was a terrible, ghastly silence as she hit the ground and rolled to a stop several meters away, completely still.

Tearing his eyes away from the awful scene, Chōji chanced a look at Teana, and what he saw was just as bad in its own way. The redhead was on her knees, her breath coming out in shallow, rapid – almost hyperventilating – gasps and pitiful squeaks. Her entire body was trembling heavily, as she slowly brought violently shaking hands up to partially cover and grip her face, fingers parted to reveal her eyes – wide as can be with shrunken pupils in an expression of absolute horror, tears already building. Her voice came out in a pitiful, barely-audible squeak:

"Ma… rie…?"

"One down…" 'Bronze' remarked.

-_Break_-

In the TSAB ship orbiting over the far side of the continent, the two commanders of the Konoha and Z-Group forces participating in this op stood on the bridge, quietly and patiently watching and listening to the scattered reports from around.

"Sir?" a technician called out to the ship's CO. "I've got something weird on long-range scanners."

"Define 'weird', Ensign" the Captain replied.

"It's a dead zone, sir. I didn't notice it at first, since there's not much _to _detect on this world, but there's an area where the ambient energy given off by the plant and animal life is just… gone. And this dead zone has well-defined edges, sir."

"Which means it might be artificial" the Captain said. "…Isn't that where Lanstar's group is operating?"

Piccolo chanced a look over at Tsunade. The Hokage gestured her head toward the ship's teleporter, and the Namekian warrior replied and began to follow her to it.

-_Break_-

"Now, then…" 'Bronze' cracked the cartilage of his neck casually. "Who next? …Perhaps you, Akimichi."

As he watched the _mazōku _slowly began to stalk toward Chōji, Tien growled and started getting to his feet.

'This is really bad…' he thought. 'If we're gonna beat this guy… Yeah, there's no other way I can see. It's time to finally give a field test to that new trick I learned. It's time to open some of the Inner Gates…'

As Tien prepared to unseal the Gate of Opening, however, he sensed something new and curious. Stopping, her turned his head to look, and his three eyes widened a little.

Teana was still on her knees and shaking, hands gripping the sides of her head, but was now hunched over somewhat. What's more, in addition to tears visible on her cheeks, her face had twisted into an expression of raw, primal rage, teeth bared in a predatory expression of fury. Her breathing was short and sharp, punctuated by quiet groans/growls. The air around her began to waver, while the grey clouds above darkened quickly.

'Bronze' stopped his advance, looking up as a bolt of golden lightning raced through the sky overhead. Curious, he turned to the redhead, and stared at the spectacle that was steadily growing.

The ground around Teana buckled and warped upward, chunks of soil and stone floating up. A violent and bitter wind began to grow, whipping up the grass and dust of the area. The flashes of lightning overhead grew in frequency, as the now-black clouds began to slowly spin over the area. A particularly bright flash accompanied a yellow lightning bolt striking the ground a few dozen meters away, and in time with its strike Teana's body visibly seized mid-tremble, as if it were connected. Her hair floated upward just a little as energy built and built, seeming to separate into sharp-pointed groups that wavered in the air. Another lightning bolt struck, and Bronze could swear that the redhead's hair changed color for an instant.

Rage and fury grew and grew, eclipsing everything else. Sorrow and terror merged with vengeance and blinding-hot hatred. There was a light and heat growing within, threatening to explode out more and more with each passing second. Nearly two years of partnership, friendship, love, all taken away in an instant… The visible tension in Teana's body grew more and more, her strained and near-feral vocalizations slowly growing louder and angrier. It looked like she was about to literally explode any second.

And then, a golden thread snapped. Power broke free like a volcanic eruption, everything being let go, as Teana threw her head back and screamed.

It was a violent, primal sound – fury itself made audible. But more attention-grabbing was that it was accompanied by an explosion of golden light, a pillar of it shooting up toward the sky while waves of light and power raced out, completely eclipsing the person at the heart of it. Bronze, Chōji, and Tien were forced to shield their faces for several seconds.

A figure slowly rose off her knees, and a lone boot being placed on the ground quaked the earth for dozens of meters around.

As he lowered his arm to look, Chōji's jaw dropped. Tien's three eyes widened, and he briefly forgot to breathe.

"What… is this…?" Bronze muttered in shock.

Standing straight and tall, surrounded by an aura that audibly wavered and flickered like a barely-contained flame. Fists clenched at her sides. Shining golden locks separated into 'spikes' falling down to her mid-back, her bangs curving forward like gold claws. Eyes still shedding tears snapped open, revealing pupiless teal. An expression of deceptively calm and tranquil anger over a core of fury as hot and white as the core of a star. And a ki/chakra power level that had taken a _tremendous_ leap upward.

Staring at the sight before him, Tien knew what it was. He'd seen it dozens of times, after all. But that didn't make it any less of an awe-inspiring shock. A kind Heart, awakened by rage. A warrior of terrible, fearsome light. An angel of death. In reaction to the loss of one of her most precious people right before her eyes, the daughter of Tarlis, niece of Prince Vegeta, had awakened her paternal bloodline's true power.

A new Super Saiyan had been born.

**-**_**CHAPTER END**_**-**

Next Time: the wrath of awakened rage. I'll try to get the next chapter ironed out, typed up, and posted as quickly as I am able, so stay tuned.


	3. Golden Fury

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

**-**_**CHAPTER START**_**-**

**Realm LN-34**

**Oberon Sector, Fae System, Planet Jin-Ya-Sai**

Beneath the dark clouds, the wind blew fiercely, stirring up the dust and dry grass. The clouds roiled overhead, lightning flashing between them. On the ground at the 'center' of this maelstrom of power, Teana stood. Standing surrounded by all this wind and lightning and her own flickering, surging golden aura, she looked eerily calm, with a simple angry frown on her face. But the look in her eyes spoke volumes even as she did not, the pupiless teal glaring at 'Bronze' with absolute hatred. Her hair – now shining golden-blonde, separated into locks/spikes –wavered in the wind and her aura.

"What… is this…?" Bronze repeated, fighting off a sudden feeling of fear at just how much power he was sensing.

"You…" Teana spoke deceptively, terrifyingly softly "took away one of the people precious to me… I'm going to _rip you in half_…"

Bronze let out a soft growl, and then charged toward her. However, Teana blinked, and in less than a full second her eyes had transitioned to _Rinnegan_. As 'Bronze' got close, he was suddenly slammed by an invisible shockwave of gravity strong enough to reduce the average person to squishy mulch. The Super-Saiyan-supercharged _Shinra Tensei_ sent him flying with great force, and before his uncontrolled flight could even start to lose noticeable velocity he was abruptly send flying upwards at an angle as Teana flash-stepped into his path with a rising kick.

A few hundred feet in the air, Bronze managed to regain control, screeching to a stop. He glared with fangs bared down at the transformed human. With a burst of speed she shot up towards him, and he threw a _ki_ blast down to meet her. Without even slowing down she batted it aside with one arm, and he barely had time for his eyes to widen in surprise before she was upon him. In the next instant, her fist was buried in his gut. Bronze doubled over, eyes and mouth wide, stunned by just how much power was now packed into the little human's body. Growling, he punched her in the face, but her head didn't even budge, while he felt like the bones of his hand almost broke. Teana's eyes seemed to flash slightly, and a large spectral skeletal arm, orange with gold 'lines' along it, formed and punched Bronze so hard that his resulting uncontrolled flight made a sonic boom.

After a few seconds, with some difficulty Bronze regained control. Teana was already pursuing him, her golden aura surrounding her and leaving a trail like a shining comet as she sped through the air. He fired a wave of _ki_ blasts at her, but she bulldozed right through them. The demon had no time to get out of the way before she crashed into him, unleashing a lightning-fast barrage of devastatingly powerful blows. She finished with a kick that sent him skyward, only to fly up in pursuit, intent on continuing her merciless assault.

Unnoticed by the two airborne combatants or the two ground-bound spectators, a small teleportation rune-circle formed not too far away, a flash of light depositing two figures. Immediately they could sense the two high powers fighting overhead. Tsunade looked up in shock as she saw Teana.

"Super Saiyan…" she breathed out. "But how? Why?"

"Tsunade!-!"

Piccolo's shout drew her attention away from the fight overhead. She looked over at him, and gasped as she saw him kneeling down by Marie Swanson, who lay still with a hole through her chest. The Namekian was gesturing her over, one of his hands on her head.

"Get over here!" he shouted. "She's still alive!"

The Fifth Hokage rushed over, bringing up her custom Omnitool and linking with Marie's, looking at the readouts and data sent to her. From what she could tell, Marie's Intelligent Device 'Charon' had – upon the mortal wounding of its master – immediately activated an emergency suite of medical programs, the same suite that had started being installed in all Intelligent Devices a few weeks ago for just this sort of occasion, reverse-engineered from Forerunner magitech data found in the facilities on Al-Hazred. Charon interfaced with Marie's body, forming minute and constantly varying magic fields and barriers to minimize blood loss as best it could, divert blood flow away from the damaged sections, slow the beating of her damaged heart without letting it stop completely, keep her unconscious and slow her body's activities to minimize loss of energy and blood, and keep a steady flow of oxygen to her brain to the best of its ability. Much of the bleeding was being held back by magic micro-barriers, but Marie was still losing blood at a slow and steady rate; eventually, there wouldn't be enough to bring oxygen to her brain. 

"This is bad…" Tsunade murmured. "If I'm going to save her, I'm going to need to go all-out…"

She formed a few hand-seals, and the diamond-shaped seal on her forehead glowed and separated, as curving black seals spread out from there and down across her upper body. Her hands glowed bright green with extremely powerful healing magic, as she placed them down over Marie's wounded body:

"_Sōzō Saisei: Byakugō_!" {創造再生: 百豪}

Everyone in the area sensed the powerful flare of chakra that accompanied Tsunade's high-level healing technique. Teana gasped as she discerned where it was coming from, and she foiled Bronze's attempt to charge her while she was distracted with a _ki_ blast shockwave, and then she flew down to the spot as fast as she could. Coming in for a landing, her eyes widened as she saw the intricate symbols 'flowing' down Tsunade's arms and onto Marie's torso, surrounding the hole in her chest that was rapidly being sealed up in the bright green glow.

"Her Device kept her alive long enough for us to show up" Piccolo told Teana, as Tien and Chōji ran up to join the group.

The first thing Marie became conscious of as awareness returned to her was the unique sensation of her flesh regrowing under the influence of medical ninjutsu; she'd been patched up by Kaede a few times in the past months, enough to know what it felt like. …She remembered; that 'Bronze' guy had blown a hole through her chest. But… Kaede and Mai weren't skilled enough yet to fix something like that… Her green eyes cracked open, and she recognized Tsunade hovering overhead, her forehead seal in its 'released' state. So that was how she was still alive, then. She closed her eyes again, still feeling tired as Tsunade had yet to bring her chakra reserves up above 'exhausted' levels.

"Ow…" she spoke softly. "It doesn't hurt anymore… but the memory is still 'ow'…"

She then heard a choked sob from nearby as the medical ninjutsu finally completed its work, and a second after she heard and felt Tsunade let out a tired sigh and allow herself to fall back into a sitting position, she then felt a soft, warm body partially on top of her, a pair of arms hugging her close. She recognized Teana's voice – crying, whispering her name and thanking God and the _Sankt Kaiser_ with immeasurable relief. Slowly, Marie brought her left arm up and around, resting over Teana's back. …Teana's body felt warmer than normal, for some reason.

"'m okay, boss…" she muttered.

"No 'boss' right now, Marie…" Teana half-sobbed out. "I've told you before, you…"

The shorter teen gave a little nod. "Tia…"

With a weak smile, Marie opened her eyes… and then they snapped wide open in an expression of shock and awe, a soft gasp escaping her. The eyes of Teana's teary smile were a bright, pupiless teal, and her normally-red hair was in golden-yellow spiky locks. Marie instantly recognized what she was seeing, but it was still hard to believe, as well as beautiful and awe-inspiring.

"Tia…" she whispered in amazement. "You… Y-You became…"

The young golden warrior looked confused. "I became what?"

There was a flash of magic nearby as Piccolo conjured a large mirror. Teana turned and had a look at herself, and nearly stopped breathing out of surprise as she saw her transformed state, noticing it for the first time. Slowly as if disbelieving, she reached up and tugged at the locks of hair of her bangs, now sticking slightly up and curving forward like golden-yellow claws.

"S-Super… Saiyan…?" she whispered. "I…"

Suddenly there was a roar of anger and a burst of power, as 'Bronze' blasted himself free of the shattered remnants of the lonely rock formation he'd crashed into. He was visibly injured, and visibly very angry. Teana took a deep breath to center herself, and then got to her feet, turning and facing the demon. Her golden aura flared to life again, as she glared at the demon with calm anger, her eyes advancing to basic _Sharingan_. After a few seconds, Piccolo stepped up beside her, casting off his weighted hat and mantle. Teana looked to him.

"Back in the 'old' days," he said, "there were points where I was as strong as or stronger than the Z-Group's Super Saiyans. But in the years after Cell, I fell behind. Lately, however, for the past several months I've been training intensely, using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and McDowell's Resort as assistance. I don't think I'll ever be able to match an SS2 in power, but for First-Stage Super Saiyans… I've finally just about caught up again with Goku and Vegeta. And to help close the gap even more…"

He tensed his body, and with a sharp grunt he was surrounded in a bluish aura of crackling Lightning-type chakra. Teana could sense it; the boost given by the _Raiton no Yoroi_ to Piccolo's already-high power level actually made him a little bit stronger than Goku's SS1 form, not to mention her own.

"Mind if I join in?" he asked.

Teana allowed herself a little, very Vegeta-like smirk. "By all means, please do."

"Room for one more?" Tien spoke up. "I've got a little something I've been working on…"

"No, Tien" Piccolo stopped him. "I know what your 'little something' is, and I know you could definitely beat this guy with it. But it puts a lot of strain on your body, and with two Super-Saiyan-level fighters already, this guy won't last long. You'd just make it into gross overkill, while putting unnecessary strain on yourself. Save your strength, Tien; you'll get your chance to shine another time."

Tien let out a little disappointed noise and then nodded, stepping back. He and Chōji helped the still-weak Marie and the now-tired Tsunade get some more distance, as Piccolo and Teana stood staring down Bronze. The _mazōku _let out a soft snarl as he observed the two warriors who stood against him, their respective auras of energy surging and flickering around them.

Bronze took off, flying upward in an arc in the direction of the heroes, and Piccolo & Teana flew up & forward to meet him. The clash of two-on-one sent a shockwave that blew grass back away from the epicenter for hundreds of meters out. Three bodies were in a flurry of motions, punches and kicks of incredible speed and fearsome power. Teana and Piccolo were overwhelming Bronze, easily dodging or blocking his blows and overcoming his attempts to defend. After a few seconds of this lightning-fast melee, a kick to the shoulder from Teana knocked Bronze off-balance for a split second, long enough for Piccolo to hit him with an overhead hammer blow that sent him careening downward.

The _mazōku_ caught himself only a few feet from the ground, and fired a sizable barrage of _ki_ blasts up at the duo. Piccolo either swatted the ones coming at him aside or let them be nullified by his Lightning-Release Armor, while Teana actually summoned a wave of Crossfire Shot bolts – supercharged by her Super Saiyan power – and fired them with supernatural precision enabled by her Sharingan to cancel out the ones heading for her. Teana then flew downward, making the last bit of distance with a flash-step that brought her in right next to Bronze. Before he could react she struck with a backhand strike from a _Susanō_ arm, and as he went flying low across the ground Piccolo appeared in his path with a kick that sent him off in a new direction. Finally, Teana appeared in Bronze's path, and slammed a gold-colored Rasengan up into him, the spiraling concussive blast sending him rocketing upward.

Several hundred feet in the air, Bronze came to a stop, panting for breath and holding an arm to his midsection. After a few seconds, he let out a roar as his dark aura flared. He held both arms out, twin black-wreathed red masses of _ki_ gathering. He then brought his arms together, merging the two spheres of power into a single larger one, now pointed straight down. In response, Teana slowly extended her arms upward.

"Gather, light of the stars…"

Before Teana's outstretched-upward arms a massive amount of golden light began to rapidly converge, glowing very brightly, while a sizable bright gold Midchildan magic rune-circle appeared beneath her feet. After several seconds, Bronze's attack fired, a thick dark-red beam with black wispy 'rings' around it. When it was about two-thirds down, Teana's own golden Super Saiyan Starlight Breaker was unleashed, half-again as big across as the _mazōku_'s attack. Bronze strained as he pushed as hard as he could, but then his eyes widened in shock as his beam was stopped cold and then slowly gave way. It was pushed back with continuously-increasing speed, the beam of golden magical death getting closer and closer. He poured everything he had into it, desperately holding it back.

Then, a purple-hued _ki_ blast curved in from below, slamming into his back, distracting and wounding him.

"Heh…" Amongst the spectators, Marie made a tired grin as she lowered her arm. "Choke on it, bitch."

This was all Teana needed. The Super Starlight Breaker completely overcame its weaker counterpart and slammed into & engulfed Bronze, completely obliterating him. The beam kept going, punching up through the dark clouds and shattering the barrier field Bronze had conjured. Sunlight streamed in through the widening hole in the clouds, as the beam shot into space and dissipated harmlessly.

Teana let out a sigh. "Well, glad that's over with" she said to Piccolo. "Now we can go back home and-"

She suddenly stopped mid-word, as her and Piccolo's heads turned to the east, eyes widening. With the dark barrier-field down, they could now finally sense things from outside it… and even from this far away, they could sense Vegeta's power – which felt like it was cranked up to full – facing off against a dark energy signature that was even higher. They shared a look and nodded, and then took off, flying full-speed toward the disturbance.

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

Vegeta hovered in the air, panting lightly. His opponent – a 'Lesser' Daemon, seven feet tall and clad in gold-colored armor – flew a few dozen meters away, arms folded, showing a few wounds and tiredness but clearly in better shape than the Saiyan Prince at the moment. Even though Vegeta was in his Super Saiyan 2 state, this enemy – 'Gold' – had the upper hand so far.

"Vegeta!"

Before he could do anything more, he sensed as Piccolo and Teana flew in. He turned to look at them, and then his usual expression was replaced by one of shock as he got a look at Teana's transformed state.

"She awakened…" he whispered. He then turned to Piccolo, speaking up. "Who did we lose?"

"No one," the Namekian replied, "but for a while we _thought _we'd lost Marie. And that 'while' was long enough for…" He gestured to Teana.

"I see…"

"More fodder?" Gold spoke up. "As if it will make much difference…"

"Come a little closer and say that, you-"

"Teana" Vegeta stopped her. "Stay back. This one… He is stronger than my Ascended Super Saiyan form."

At this, Teana and Piccolo gasped; neither of them could hope to match Vegeta's SS2 state, and if this new enemy was even stronger…

"Yes," the daemon hissed, "you have given everything you have, the maximum of your power, and it's still not enough. And now, little monkey, it is time for you to-"

He stopped as he noticed Vegeta began to laugh softly, an evil-looking smirk on his face.

(MUSIC: _Dragon Ball Z _American OST – "Super Saiyan Vegeta" – slowly-rising piano build-up)

"I said that you were stronger than my Ascended Super Saiyan form…" he said. "And until recently, that meant that you were stronger than me, period. However… Hahaha… You should feel privileged, daemon. You shall be the first to witness my return to glory, and you shall have an audience for your ultimate defeat!"

(full song, as starts on official soundtrack)

Vegeta then hunched forward partially, fists clenched, and let out a long _kiai_, low in pitch but gradually rising, as his power level began to climb and climb. The golden light of his aura intensified, becoming a jagged-edged sphere around him, and the wind in the area picked up to a frightening degree, while the ground beneath him trembled and shook for miles around even though he hovered over 100 meters over it. Piccolo and Teana stared in astonishment as Vegeta's power continued to soar upward, his body soon hidden from sight by the sheer brightness of his aura. Lightning cracked through the sky, the clouds swirling overhead. 'Gold' stared in shock, one arm held up to partially shield his face from the burning wind and painful light.

"What in the hells is this?" the daemon thought aloud.

Finally, there was an explosion of light and sound. Vegeta's triumphant shout/roar echoed through the heavens, as a mighty wave of light erupted from his position, piercing through the clouds. The wind howled and rumbled, the earth far below him splitting open a little. When the light faded, Piccolo and Teana stared in awe, while 'Gold' felt a spark of fear.

Vegeta's golden aura surged with newfound strength and a different sound from his two well-known Super Saiyan forms, ringed by near-constant little discharges of blue electrical energy. His eyebrows looked to have disappeared, and his metallic-gold hair had grown down to his mid-back. He let out a soft chuckle as he grinned at the daemon.

"At long last…" Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta said in a low tone and a familiar confident smirk. "The prince has reclaimed his seat on the throne. Now, it is time for you to _bow_."

Despite his surprise, 'Gold' prepared to fight back. However, the instant he began to move his arm in order to charge and fire a _ki_ blast, Vegeta appeared beside him in a flash of movement, the Saiyan Prince's grip nearly crushing the bones of Gold's wrist. With lightning speed he followed with a knee to the gut, the shockwave from the impact sounding like a thunderclap. Gold doubled over, eyes bulging open and jaw agape as he tried to breathe. Vegeta released the daemon's arm and struck him in the side of the head with a backhand blow, and Gold went tumbling through the air with significant speed and force.

Gold snarled as he screeched to a stop, holding his hands out forward and firing a huge wave of energy blasts. Vegeta simply hovered in place and let them strike him, being shrouded by the resultant smoke cloud. Several seconds after the attack stopped, as the smoke cleared, the SS3 was completely unharmed, having not budged an inch. Gold roared out in fury as he charged and fired a sphere of power as big across as he was tall, but Vegeta calmly pointed his hand and fired an Atomic Blast, the small golden bolt piercing straight through the daemon's attack, dissipating it, and then flying in and blowing the daemon's left arm off.

Vegeta flash-stepped in to right in front of Gold, and attacked with a furious assault, physical blows pounding the monster for massive damage. He stopped on purpose, and when Gold threw a last, desperate full-force punch, Vegeta and his ever-present smirk didn't even flinch at all. When Gold lowered his fist and saw that look still there, his expression changed to one of undisguised fear, and he took off, flying up and away as fast as he could. Sighting his fleeing target, Vegeta chuckled softly and pointed his arm up at the retreating daemon. A mass of gold and green energy gathered at his fingertips, and he called out:

"Final Shine!-!"

A brilliant green wave of energy shot out in pursuit of 'Gold'. It quickly caught up to the daemon, who turned and tried desperately to hold it back. He only managed to do so for a second, and then his scream was cut off as it engulfed and obliterated him. The resulting massive green explosion lit up the sky for several seconds, wind blowing and earth quaking, before then fading away to reveal that of the daemon there was absolutely nothing left.

With the battle won, Vegeta allowed his transformation to dissipate, returning to his base form. After staring in jaw-dropped awe at what she'd seen for a few seconds more, Teana followed suit, her spiked golden hair returning to its straight red-orange, her eyes becoming their normal blue. …As a test, she then transformed and un-transformed again a few times, confirming that she could access it at will. Vegeta flew up to her and Piccolo.

"Let's report back to base," he said, "and inform them that the trash has been taken out."

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

**Unknown Location, Unknown Realm**

Amon looked out at his assembled 'Dark Generals'. After Kadak & Narud's deaths and Ruin's defection to Xehanort, the Fallen Xel'Naga had been left with a deficiency of manpower. Snagging Pierrot's old second-in-command 'Joker' had been a nice development, but he needed more than that.

That's why he'd been busy lately.

The first of his two new 'Dark Generals' had been a bit difficult to convince to join without resorting to force, but not overly so; the promise of kills to make and flesh to devour, as well as a chance for newfound power to use against his old nemesis, had swayed this being to Amon's cause. The other one, the real prize, had taken a bit of work; Amon had needed to pull this daemon's spirit out of his Realm's afterlife, and undo the damage the local 'afterworld gate-guardian' had done to it. But he'd succeeded. This one had served a previous master with loyalty, discipline, and faithfulness, but had been casually cast aside once said master got his hands on a bigger, badder 'toy' to play with. Amon had made it clear to his newest underling that he would not do such a thing; so long as the daemon was loyal, he would receive loyalty and support in return.

"_**It has been a while since we have shown ourselves to the Dimensional Defense Force. Perhaps we should remind them we're here, and give you two a chance to introduce yourselves. Go.**_"

"At once, Master Amon" the daemon replied, a cape visible moving in the shadows as he stood up from his kneel, following Joker and the other new Dark General out. As he watched them go, Amon leaned back in his throne. It would not be very long before the Protoss made their move, and when they did, he would make his own. Until then, he could sit back and watch a little entertainment…

**-**_**CHAPTER END**_**-**

Next Time: we get to meet Amon's two new Dark Generals, and an old foe the DDF thought dead resurfaces with some new toys to use against them…


	4. Shades

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

**-**_**CHAPTER START**_**-**

**Inter-Realm Slipspace**

**Systems Alliance Stealth-Attack Frigate **_**Normandy II**_

"…This is fuckin' creepy" Ryūko said bluntly.

The 'core trio' – Ryūko, Mako, and Satsuki – had chosen to hitch a ride with Team Shepard to their first time off-world. They had read detailed rundowns of everything, so they knew about all the people, places, things, and events connected to the DDF, though they hadn't yet watched the recorded 'footage'.

Right now, Ryūko and Mako were in Shepard's cabin as the Commander sat on his sofa going over a report. The two girls were eyeing Dr. Bryson's Husk-head experiment mounted on a shelf above & beside Shepard's desk; 'miraculously', it had survived the C'tan-killing wave released by the Crucible, and was just as disturbing as ever.

"Did it just… move?" Mako asked, tilting her head.

"That's not funny, Mako. Hey Commander, what the hell is this?"

"It's just a… 'trophy' I got during my hunt for Leviathan" Shepard replied. "Worked with a scientist, he got killed, I found it while combing through his lab for evidence."

"A _mad_ scientist…" Ryūko murmured, looking at the Husk-head out the corner of her eye as if afraid to look at it directly. "Who keeps the head of a Husk kill mounted on their desk?"

"Let's… leave it alone for now…" Mako suggested, subtly leaning away from the thing.

"Y-Yeah..." Ryūko slowly raised her arm, moving to poke the thing on the forehead. "Let's go tell Satsuki about-"

The instant she poked it, the Husk-head suddenly came 'alive' and shrieked at the two girls. Ryūko let out the highest, girliest scream she had ever made as she leapt back several feet, bumping back into and pressing herself against the far wall, while Mako had fallen over backward and rapidly scrambled backward across the floor to join her; her scream had actually been _less_ girly than Ryūko's.

Shepard took a second off his work to call up a counting app and check off two more marks on it.

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

**Realm LN-34**

**Oberon Sector, Fae System, Planet Jin-Ya-Sai**

It was one day after the emergence and defeat of the 'Rare Metal Duo'. After the field groups had returned to base, the reports of what had happened had made quite an impact; the awakening of Teana's Super Saiyan form, especially, got quite a bit of surprise. When Teana and Marie informed Sarah how close the latter had come to death, including with a genjutsu-based 'flashback' from Teana's point-of-view of it happening, Sarah had immediately latched onto Marie with a tight hug, near to tears; this was repeated with Kaede, and again with Erika when Theta Team arrived that evening.

Any hopes of an easy day today were dashed when scanners detected another batch of anomalous readings in a small area. Mindful of what happened yesterday, a sizable group headed out together this time: Teana, Ahsoka, Piccolo, Tien, Erika, Mariko, Timmy, Shepard, Ryūko, and Satsuki. Arriving at the target location – a grassy, rocky area – they found it seemingly empty.

"Ah, the guests of honor have arrived!"

Startled by the sudden voice, the hero group looked around, and soon Timmy pointed up at the top of a rock formation nearby, and to the purple-&-white-clad, white-masked harlequin who stood atop it.

"_Halloooo~!_" Joker waved down at them with a fanged grin. "Long time no see!"

"Not long enough" Teana growled as she and everyone else readied weapons, glaring up at Pierrot's former enforcer and now Amon's.

"Oh come now, dear, don't be like that! I just wanted to introduce my new friends!"

"'Friends'?" Shepard asked. 

"Oh, yes! You see, Amon-sama needs more than just one Dark General. With you lot having disposed of Kadak and Narud, and Ruin crossing over to Master Xehanort's faction, my master needed a few replacements. And he found them!"

On cue, a shadow passed over the group for a moment as something large flew by overhead. It turned around after passing the rock formation, flying low and setting down beside it. It was a dragon, thin in build, with a long snout tipped with a hook-like point, partially opened to reveal a mouth filled with crocodile-like sharp teeth, set beneath glowing yellow eyes. Its dull-purple hide, naturally armored, was red and black in certain parts, those parts carrying a dark and unnatural 'glow' from the power of Darkness. Two massive wings with gold-hued membranes stuck up and out from its back, a long and thin tail was tipped with an arrowhead-shaped spike, and as it looked at the hero group, it let out a soft chuckle.

"So this is the 'fresh meat' Amon promised, huh?" the dragon said in a deep hiss of a voice.

"Indeed it is, Sir Ridley" Joker replied with his own fanged grin. "A shame Miss Aran is elsewhere at the moment, unable to see this now…"

Several members of the DDF group tensed up; this was Samus' nemesis, the 'star-dragon' responsible for killing – _eating _– her parents and leading the 'Space Pirates' on countless missions of conquest and pillage against the peoples of her Realm.

"Is this supposed to impress us?" Teana asked. "Because really, you and this big guy are no match for our heavy hitters. Amon must be scraping the bottom of the barrel; you can't beat us like this."

"Are you so sure of that, human?"

The new, deep voice rang out from behind Joker, atop the rock formation. A figure slowly walked up into view beside the dark harlequin, looking down at the group with a smirk, and Piccolo blanched in horror.

"It… can't be…" the Namekian murmured.

The figure looked to be a demon or daemon, humanoid in build, around seven feet tall, with red skin, large pointed ears, a bit of short black hair atop his head and a matching thin goatee. Two conical horns sprouted from his temples, and yellow eyes with slit pupils gazed down at the group, set above a grin with elongated canine teeth. He had a muscular build, his muscled chest partially exposed by the blue long-sleeved top he wore, along with matching blue pants secured by a white belt. A long white cape hung from his shoulders, attached to a mantle that went over his outfit, and pristine white boots stop atop the rock. Human-like hands tipped with black claw-nails hung by his sides. He chuckled as his gaze briefly focused on Piccolo.

"I remember you…" he said.

"Piccolo, who is this guy?" Shepard asked.

"It's… the 'Demon King' from our Realm" Piccolo replied. "Dabura!"

"But… he's dead!" Tien said, his three eyes wide.

"I was" Dabura replied. "Lord Amon resurrected me, purged me of King Yemma's tainting of my pure-dark soul, and inducted me into his service as a 'Dark General'. I'm looking forward to it, to be honest – a chance to fight some more battles, lead some conquests, and serve under a master who actually appreciates my loyalty and talents, unlike the _last_ one…"

"Yes," Joker spoke up, "from what I've heard, Babidi was quite an ungrateful piece of work."

"Indeed."

"Now what do we do, Piccolo?" Tien whispered. "You said this guy is as strong as Perfect Cell was after regenerating from blowing himself up, right? Other than Ryūko's Tailed Beast we don't have anyone above that here, but she still takes a minute to gather the _ki_ needed to assume that state, and I'm not sure we could hold him off long enough to give her the time to transform."

"Yeah, we're definitely in trouble" the Namekian replied. "Maybe if we're lucky, Vegeta will sense this battle from his position…" he sighed "clear on the other side of the planet, and come running."

"Now then," Dabura spoke up, "let's wrap the introductions and have a little… Hm?"

Dabura turned his attention to the side, just as a roiling black portal – a Corridor of Darkness – opened up. Everyone watched as a new figure emerged – unnaturally tall and spindly, covered head-to-toe in spiky armor, including a helmet that totally obscured his face… or rather, his lack of one. Dabura grinned.

"Ah, Slind" he said. "It's been a long time since I've seen you, old friend."

"Oh?" Joker spoke up. "You're still alive, Slind? I thought you'd been slain on Ulnar months ago."

The silent, faceless daemon shook his head.

"Does anyone on the bad guys' side ever _stay _dead?" Ahsoka whispered, exasperated.

"Slind would not be taken out so easily" Dabura replied. "He has a powerful healing factor, and due to the nature of his being he can repair his wounds by 'feeding'. All he has to do is strike some terror into the hearts of mortals for a few weeks or months, and he's good as new. I have worked alongside him before in ages past."

Slind gave a nod of acknowledgement and greeting to his old ally, and then turned his attention to the hero group below. Everyone could 'sense' his anger. He turned back to Dabura, and the Demon King's ears perked up slightly as his comrade communicated telepathically with him.

"You want to use that old trick?" he asked. "Do you have good enough 'materials' on hand?"

Slind nodded.

"What 'old trick'?" Ridley asked.

"Slind has the ability to form special familiars – 'Shades of Existence', based upon beings whose essences he has consumed, with the ability to repair themselves and more power than they had in life. He can use the 'shades' of normal mortals to create veritable armies of cannon fodder if he wishes. And if he can manage to consume the essence of someone powerful…"

Slind slowly raised his armor-clad arms, a deep-red glow emanating from them and from the center of his armored chest. On the ground at the base of the rock formation, around two-dozen pitch-black 'pools' of shadow formed, and from each one emerged what looked like the three-dimensional 'silhouette' of a person, a living shadow of pitch-black, with glowing red eyes as the only feature. Most were humans, but there were also the 'Shades' of a hammer-wielding Jiralhanae and a Turian amongst them.

Then, three more shadow-pools formed at the head of the 'pack'. The first figure to emerge was the jet-black shape of a seven-foot-tall demon, with claw-tipped hands and a pair of six-inch-long horns curving up from its head. The second figure looked to have once been a human male, clad in light armor, with hair held back in a ponytail/topknot; in one of its claw-gloved hands, it held a short-sword that crackled with dark-red power; the red glow of its eyes looked oddly-shaped, as if through a face mask. The final figure to emerge was smaller, and even as a featureless all-black '3D silhouette' it was obviously clad in the black shadow of a frilly, poofy thigh-length dress, its hair in two huge curly-spirally pigtails with a large bow on its head. In its hand it held a large black blade that looked like half of a pair of scissors, and it only had one visible glowing-red eye.

"Kai Leng…" Shepard growled.

"Nui…" Ryūko spoke in a low and dangerous tone, teeth bared.

"And some other demon-guy we don't know…" Mariko said in a faux-angry tone, following the crowd for silliness' sake. "Though… all the same, something about him makes me feel…"

"An impressive selection" Dabura remarked.

"Well," Joker sighed, "I suppose we'll let you have this one, 'skinny'."

Joker and Ridley vanished through Dark Gateways. Dabura opened his own gateway, and before he stepped through he nodded his head to Slind.

"I look forward to working with you again…"

The 'Demon King' vanished, leaving Slind and his force of Shades to face off against the heroes. After a few seconds, as Slind stood overhead and watched, the whole group of Shades charged; the 'standard' types manifested claws or blades at the ends of their arms, while the Turian-Shade and the Kai Leng-Shade channeled red Biotic power, the latter focusing it through its blade, the demon-Shade flared with dark power, the Nui-Shade readied its sword, and the Brute Chieftain-Shade hefted its black gravity hammer.

The heroes attacked, starting to carve through the fodder-level Shades, but it very quickly became obvious that something was going to make this harder than it should be: when damaged, the Shades quickly self-repaired/reformed and went right back to attacking. Even the inherent Light magic of stabs and slashes from Erika's Keyblade, meant to slay Heartless and purify the released Hearts so they couldn't spontaneously 'respawn', could not put the Shades down for good, merely slowing their regeneration instead of stopping it.

Tien blocked a strike from the demon-Shade, letting out a soft growl as he gazed into its all-red eyes; from what he could sense, this thing was only a slight bit below him in power level, and its regenerative ability would make up for the small deficiency. Tien blocked another blow, and flowed into a combo of melee strikes finishing with a kick that dislocated the demon-Shade's left arm. As it leapt back, the demon-Shade's shoulder twisted and shifted, repairing itself, and then the fiend fired a few crimson blasts that Tien managed to deflect.

Shepard formed his Omniblade as the Kai Leng-Shade got in close, blocking a swing of its short-sword wreathed in red Biotic energy. Not too far away, Ryūko and the Nui-Shade had flown into a rapid exchange of blows, the sound of clashing metal ringing out as they met blades over and over. Timmy was moving about with his Lightning-chakra-charged short sword at the ready, the little boy less than five feet tall engaging the nearly 9-foot-tall Brute-Shade, dodging the swings of its gravity hammer and darting in to deal quick slashes and stabs. Everyone else contented themselves with the cannon fodder.

Watching the battle below, Slind suddenly leapt back to avoid a falling slash from Teana, who took a stance and glared at him with Mirage Longswords readied. In response, the daemon straightened up to his imposing full height, looking down at her, as a pitch-black aura clung to his body, and the armor of his unnaturally long arms became covered in bladed spikes. After a few seconds, they charged at each other.

Down below, Satsuki grunted as she blocked a strike from the Shade of an old enemy. Several of the fodder Shades had swamped Ryūko, leaving the older sister to fend off the Nui-Shade for the moment. The 'echo' of Harime pressed its attack, putting Satsuki solidly on the defensive for a few seconds, only for Satsuki to suddenly use _Chidori Nagashi_, stunning the Nui-Shade and letting Satsuki land a slice that chopped it in half. Unfortunately, the two halves rapidly extended shadowy threads that pulled them back together.

Suddenly the Nui-Shade went for a feint and kicked Satsuki in the gut, making her double over briefly, and it used this opportunity to get some distance from her… and head for a new target, one who was too preoccupied to notice its approach. Timmy was fighting against the Brute-Shade and five basic-level Human-Shades, his lightning-enhanced sword practically a blur as he blocked and struck. But then, the Nui-Shade appeared bearing down on him, blade raised and being swung. Things seemed to move in slow motion as he saw it coming, eyes wide, and knew he wouldn't have time to block. Everyone else was either too busy or too far away to make it in time…

*WHOOSH*

There was a small spark/flash of light, and Erika appeared, one hand on a spot on Timmy's chest and the other holding her Keyblade out, blocking the Nui-Shade's strike. As she sent it flying back with a counter-swing, several people stared in shock.

"Did… Did she just teleport?" Teana whispered with eyes wide, as she and her opponent both looked. "_Without_ having her Keyblade be at her 'porting destination?"

"Erika?" Timmy said, eyes wide with wonder. "W-What was…"

"I've b-been working on something f-for a while" the young girl replied. "I figured… I c-can teleport myself to my Keyblade, a-and I've improved my reaction time and t-the 'duration' of the jump s-so I can strike instantaneously after m-making a 'jump', so I thought, 'h-how can I improve on this further?'. And then, I h-had the idea: what if I could i-isolate the magical signature that I h-home in on to jump to my Keyblade, create a m-mark or seal which carried that signature, a-and then jump to anything – or anyone – that had t-that seal on it? …W-When I was…" she blushed "laying o-on top of you while we were shirtless last night, r-relaxing on my bed, a-and my hand was resting on your chest, I… applied the seal to you as a test. …And now I know it works."

The heroes were silent for a few seconds.

"…Erika" Teana spoke up as she leapt down, leaving Slind (who was suddenly rather indignant about being ignored) behind on the rocks. "Do you mean to tell me… that purely on your own, you managed to puzzle out and recreate the Fourth Hokage's teleportation technique – the _Hiraishin_?"

"…Did I?" the little girl looked confused, and then shocked with realization. "I… I did? …H-Holy crap, I… I actually…"

"Whoa" a new voice chimed in. "Now _that's _damned impressive."

The trio jumped a bit, turning to see a blond boy in black & orange giving Erika an impressed, almost admiring look.

"How long have you been here, Naruto-kun?" Teana asked.

"About three minutes" Naruto replied. "Was watching the fight, seeing if I was needed, but when Erika pulled _that_ off, I came in to investigate." He grinned as he petted the girl on the head. "Figuring that technique out all on your own? That's _incredible_, kid! Even with my dad's notes, it took me two months to figure it out!"

"W-Well, I've been working on it f-for about three and a half months…" the girl mumbled, embarrassed at the praise.

"But you did it without any notes on the technique to help you – without even knowing that was the technique you were working on!" He then got a look in his eyes like he had an idea. "Hey Erika, gimme your hand."

She did so, and he gently grabbed her wrist in a way that she could then grab his at the same time. She felt the tiny pulse of special chakra as Naruto's _Hiraishin_ seal was applied to her arm, and she reciprocated by applying hers to his arm. He then bumped fists with her, and her eyes widened a little as she received the telepathic communication that was enabled. Nodding, she broke contact and then readied her Keyblade, while Naruto put palm to fist, staring at the Shades, which were regrouping.

The attack began anew, the Shades rushing at the heroes. Piccolo karate-chopped one in half and caved another's head in, but they both regenerated. Growling in frustration, the Namekian warrior kicked one a fair distance away and then blasted it with a fairly power ki blast. When the light faded, the Shade had been blown into scattered chunks. Watching and waiting for the pieces to pull together, Piccolo was surprised when they instead vanished in bursts of dark smoke and miasma, the latter flowing up and back into Slind.

"Hey, guys!" he shouted. "They can't reform if they're blown to pieces!"

Tien dodged the demon-Shade's latest attack and backflipped away, landing amongst a trio of weak human-Shades. With a shout he fired a _ki_ blast from each hand, obliterating two of the fodder-level opponents; the few remaining pieces of them reverted to black smoke and miasma, returning to their master. Mariko combined several vectors for a single piercing strike through the center of the Turian-Shade's chest, and then slashed them all out in different directions, cutting the shadowy being apart into multiple chunks that dissolved away.

Shepard decided it was time for him to try out a new technique. Charging at the Kai Leng-Shade, he ducked under its sword swing and landed a punch to the diaphragm. The Shade leapt back, preparing to attack, but then Shepard extended his hand, activating the Biotic 'seed' he'd planted into the thing's body. A powerful mass-effect singularity formed inside the Shade's chest, causing its body to violently implode, parts being torn loose as they were pulled in by and crushed against the point of powerful gravity. Shepard then made the singularity explode with great force, tearing the Leng-Shade apart.

"I can only imagine the mess that'd make out of an organic target…" he muttered to himself as he watched the scattered fragments of the Shade dissolve and return to Slind.

Teana began a charge, forming a Rasengan as she eyed one of the fodder-level Shades. However, Naruto unexpectedly appeared in her path, seemingly just about to take the Rasengan to his chest. But several meters away, Erika appeared behind the Brute Chieftain-Shade, placing her hand upon its back, and…

'_Hiraishin Goshun Mawashi no Jutsu_!'

Using each other's seals, Naruto and Erika (and her unwilling 'passenger') instantaneously switched places, and Teana's Rasengan struck the Chieftain-Shade in the chest full-on, grinding and tearing into it. Erika flash-stepped away, and the spiraling concussive blast punched a hole through the beast's torso while sending it flying back. As it landed, Timmy grabbed hold of its dropped gravity hammer and charged it with his Lightning chakra. With a mighty swing (ki-enhanced strength) he struck the weakened portion, and that combined with his supercharging it meant the strike blew the damaged Brute-Shade apart, its fragments dissipating and returning to Slind.

"First and Second Gates, _open_!-!"

Tien's body flared with power, his ki/chakra increasing by a noticeable degree. Moving faster than before, he dashed in and unleashed a punishing barrage of blows on the demon-Shade. He finished with an uppercut that sent the Shade flying upward into the sky, and then he quickly formed the familiar triangular hand-seal in front of his face, looking at the airborne enemy. Enhanced by two Inner Gates' openings, the ensuing Tri-Beam was able to obliterate the Shade, and Tien let the Gates close again, panting lightly as he watched the vapor that remained return to its master.

As she clashed blades with the Nui-Shade, Ryūko was suddenly enveloped in a flame-like cloak/aura of red chakra. A kick to the face stunned the Nui-Shade, and Ryūko leapt back and focused a large amount of power between her hands, in the form of tiny white and black motes coming together into a black sphere. As the Nui-Shade recovered and rushed in again, Ryūko ducked under its swing and slammed her attack home:

"_Super-Mini Bijūdama_!"

The resulting explosion blew the Shade to pieces, the remnants returning to Slind. Meanwhile Tien, Piccolo, and Teana finished mopping up the fodder-level Shades.

"How do you like _that_?-!" Teana shouted with a confident grin as she pointed her energy sword up at Slind.

In response Slind 'rumbled', and everyone could feel his annoyance and anger. The daemon then focused his energies, and then as he raised his arms high a pillar of deep red light shot up from the ground in front of him. In addition to sensing and seeing the dark power, some of the DDF group could faintly hear what sounded like chains rattling. After a few seconds, the light faded to reveal a new 'Shade', the last remnants of chains of solid-form Darkness dissolving away from it. Humanoid in structure, around five-and-a-half feet tall, it appeared to have no distinguishing features whatsoever – no shadows of clothing, no body characteristics that would identify species, a blank slate even by Shade standards, the only difference from its black body being its two perfectly-circular glowing red eyes. Slind let out a low, ominous chuckle as he stepped back through a Corridor of Darkness, leaving the battlefield. The mystery Shade stood at the edge of the rock, looking down at the heroes.

"P… Piccolo…" Tien whispered.

"Yeah…" the Namekian was displaying noticeable shock and nervousness at what he sensed, as was everyone else. "This thing… It's as strong as a Super Saiyan 2, at _least_. This is gonna be bad…"

The 'Blank Shade' slowly lifted its arm, pointing its palm down at the group. Eyes widening, Piccolo immediately had everyone scatter, and just in time too. A small dark-red energy blast shot out from the being's hand, and a mighty explosion tore apart the ground where everyone had been standing. As they all landed safely a distance away, the dust cleared to reveal a sizable crater large enough to encompass the entirety of where they'd all been standing. The Blank Shade slowly lowered its arm again, looking out at the now-startled heroes. That blast had been a drop in the bucket for it, they knew.

The response was quick and flashy. Two golden flashes of ki signaled Teana and Naruto entering her Super Saiyan form and his Stage-2 Tailed Beast Cloak, while a burst of red chakra accompanied Ryūko following Naruto's example. Piccolo brought his _Raiton no Yoroi_ up, and everyone else flared with auras of ki/chakra, magic, or – in Shepard's case – Biotics. Out of all of them, only Naruto and Ryūko had enough power to even equal this thing, but the rest would not be playing the helpless victims… well, they would _try_ not to.

Ahsoka and Tien made the first move, unleashing a combo of _ki_ blasts and a torrent of Force Lightning. The Blank Shade moved its arm rapidly to bat away the energy blasts, and then held its palm out and 'caught' the Force Lightning stream, stopping it and then redirecting it harmlessly into the ground. The Shade then leapt down from its perch atop the rock formation, dashing across the ground toward the heroes. As it drew close, Shepard made it stumble with a Warp attack, and then Erika flashed by with a Sonic Blade strike. However, the wound she left repaired itself quickly, and the Blank Shade turned its gaze onto her.

In a flash of light and movement, Naruto appeared between Erika and the Blank Shade, catching the latter's knee strike. He then formed a chakra arm and grabbed hold of the Blank Shade by the leg, slammed it into the ground back and forth a few times, and then tossed it high and far, following with a _ki_ blast. The Blank Shade managed to regain control mid-flight, and swatted Naruto's energy blast away as it came back down to the ground, landing safely on its feet.

Teana appeared in a burst of speed, the orange energy blades of her Mirage Longswords tinted gold by her Super Saiyan power. Sweeping blurs of orange and gold accompanied her lightning-fast slashes and stabs, but the Blank Shade managed to dodge nearly the entirety of it, only taking surface wounds that quickly repaired themselves. It then leapt back, and then lunged forward with a palm strike, and Teana was sent flying back, tumbling for several meters before regaining balance and skidding to a stop on her feet, letting out a groan as she held a hand to her midsection.

The Blank Shade vanished in a burst of speed and reappeared amongst the heroes. Before they could react, it loosed an all-directions pulse of power that sent them all flying every which way. Teana and Erika landed beside each other against a rock, dazed. As they shook their heads clear, however, they looked up just in time to see the Blank Shade charging a sizable deep-red ball of destructive _ki_. Its red-circle eyes flashed, and it threw/launched the blast. Teana positioned herself in front of Erika, her golden aura flaring as she prepared to try to tank the blast.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a bright pink _ki _blast curve-balled in, striking the inbound deep-red blast from below and the side. It pushed the hostile blast up in a high arc, both exploding hundreds of meters above with near-blinding light. Teana blinked in confusion at having been unexpectedly saved, as Erika got to her feet behind her. Looking around, she soon spotted her unexpected savior, as did everyone else.

The being was big and fat, with bright pink skin. He wore puffy white pants secured by a black & gold belt, an open gold-rimmed black vest, yellow gloves & boots, and a purple cape. A pink head-tail grew from atop his head, twitching, and he was looking at the Blank Shade with anger.

"You try to make someone dead when they already down?" he said in a high-pitched voice. "That makes you a bully! And Buu no like bullies!"

"Man…" Tien breathed out. "I never thought I'd be glad to see _him_…"

"Uh…" Ahsoka spoke up to Piccolo. "This is the 'good' Buu, right? The one purified of all Darkness?"

"Yeah" the Namekian nodded, a small grin appearing. "I think our chances of making it out alive just got better."

The Blank Shade stared, near-motionless, at Good Buu for a few seconds, its head tilted to the side. Then, with a burst of surprising speed, it rushed forward, heading right for the pink villain-turned-hero. However, mid-stride its left leg was severed by one of Mariko's long-reaching vectors. It abruptly pushed backward with its other leg, the shadows that made up its body 'grabbing' its lost limb as it fell back, pulling it back together.

The Stroke of Midnight came spinning in as a Strike Raid attack, and as it drew close Erika teleported to her Keyblade and unleashed a withering barrage of strikes. The Blank Shade shifted its arms into spike-blades, parrying and blocking her blows. As she struck with a heavy downward swing, the Blank Shade used one blade-arm to block the strike, and Erika strained to overpower it, pushing down against the limb. Suddenly, she yelped as Good Buu's extended arm grabbed hold of her and yanked her back… just as the Blank Shade's other arm, having been brought behind its back, stabbed through itself as a long, thin spear, right where Erika's heart had just been. As the Blank Shade pulled its arm free and returned to normal, Erika was brought over to the rest of the group.

"Close one" Good Buu said.

"Y-Yeah" the girl replied. "Thanks."

Good Buu nodded with a smile, and then began firing pink _ki_ blasts at the Blank Shade, soon joined by Piccolo, Tien, and Teana. After a few seconds they stopped, carefully watching the dust cloud that had been kicked up. Suddenly, two small crimson blasts shot out in an arc, impacting the ground between them and the Blank Shade's position, creating a great deal more concealing dust. As the heroes shielded their eyes, a black shape suddenly leapt out of the dust, and Good Buu gasped in surprise as the Blank Shade rapidly changed shape, expanding like a web/net of black shadows and latching onto him. The others watched in shock as Buu struggled to rip the thing off of himself, even as it began to expand to cover more of him.

"Get… _OFF!-!_"

With a mighty heave, Good Buu ripped the Blank Shade off of himself and tossed it away, landing ahead of the group as the dust settled. As the Blank Shade reformed and stood up, however, it began to change, its form shifting. It shrunk down to under five feet tall, its formless build becoming one of lean muscle. Its lower half shifted, taking the appearing of wearing baggy pants and boots. The shape of arm-guards transitioning to fingerless gloves formed on its forearms. From its head, a head-tail/tentacle sprouted, sweeping backward and ending in a ball-shaped point. Finally, its eyes opened, having transitioned from perfect red circles to a slanted, 'angry' shape. And through its transformation, its power level – already a match for a Super Saiyan 2 – had increased further.

All the heroes – especially Tien, Piccolo, and Good Buu – looked in shock and mild horror as they were now facing what appeared to be a 'Shade' of Kid Buu.

"Uh-oh" Good Buu summed up.

The Kid Buu-Shade dashed in, and only the enhanced durability granted by Lightning Release Armor protected Piccolo from taking serious injury from the ensuing kick. As it was, he was sent hurtling back, skipping across the ground a few times before regaining control. The Buu-Shade then started towards Teana, only for Good Buu to intercept it. The two engaged in a furious exchange of blows, flying up into the air as their arms and legs were a blur. After several seconds of pummeling each other, Good Buu hit the Kid Buu-Shade with an overhead blow that sent it careening down toward the ground, but the Shade managed to regain control at the last second and land on its feet, the ground cracking beneath it.

The Buu-Shade jumped back to dodge simultaneous strikes from Ryūko and Satsuki. The two sisters pressed their attacks, their limbs and blades blurs of movement as they pursued the backpedaling Shade. The Kid-Buu-shaped shadowy entity bent and twisted in ways it shouldn't have been able to, dodging most of their blows, while regenerating whatever damage it did take. Ryūko managed to get lucky and chop the Shade in half at the waist, but the detached legs then kicked both girls away before then rejoining with the upper half.

"_Wakusei Rasengan_!" {惑星螺旋丸}

There was a flash of gold movement as Naruto rushed in, slamming a Rasengan with three smaller Rasengan orbiting it into the center of the Kid Buu-Shade's chest. The quadruple attack sent the Buu-Shade spiraling back, blasting a sizable hole through its chest, and it crashed into a rock formation, nearly bringing it down and shrouding the immediate area in dust. After several seconds, the dust and smoke slowly settled to reveal the Buu-Shade just as it finished regenerating.

However, something was different. The all-black Shade now had a long, thin 'stripe' of bright pink that ran down the side of each arm, as well as one that ran down the length of its head-tail. Two thin pink patches above its eyes, a triangular pattern of three pointed lines emerging from a point where the lower edge of the sternum would be and reaching out across its chest and down to where the navel would be, another pink streak down its spine, wavering lines of white along its pants-'shaped' legs, and gold rims along the lower edge of its armguards completed the picture. Furthermore, its power level had increased even more, and its energy signature had changed, now bearing a noticeable resemblance to a _ki_ signature that the Z-Trio found terrifyingly familiar.

"W-Why does it have those different-colored patches?" Teana wondered aloud. "And what happened to its energy signature?"

"No…" Piccolo murmured, his eyes wide with terrified realization, his face pale. "This… This can't be right… This can't be real, can't be happening…"

"Piccolo-san?" Naruto asked. "What's wrong?"

"Majin Buu was… originally a being of pure dark magic given life and form. That's why he was so powerful, so wild and violent and crazed, and had so many abilities. …This 'Shade' is the same type of being – an entity of living primordial evil magic; for all we know, it might even be the real Kid Buu's 'Shade of Existence', deformed and 'decayed'. After it made contact with the Good Buu, it was able to assume its current shape… and it's progressing. He's… He's actualizing! Using that thing as a medium… the real Majin Buu is slowly coming back!"

"We have to kill it before it can complete its actualization!" Tien said. "If we can't, we're screwed!"

"But nobody here is strong enough to!" Mariko replied.

"We have to try" Piccolo growled. "Or we're all as good as dead."

(MUSIC: _Dragon Ball _Z American OST (Bruce Faulconer) – Buu the Majin Sagas: "Evil Buu" (Track 26))

The Buu-Shade's aura flared up, a reddish-pink flame-like energy that surrounded its small body. It 'glared' out at the hero group, and they could almost sense the feeling of anticipation it felt. It twitched and shook, almost as if silently laughing, and then it charged.

Tien barely ducked in time to avoid a kick that would've taken his head off, and he lashed out with a rising strike to the joint of the offending leg. The blow did barely any damage, and the Buu-Shade's retaliatory backhand sent the three-eyed warrior flying, skipping across the ground like a stone across water. Piccolo speared his Lightning-charged hand through the Shade's chest, but the entity calmly split its upper half vertically to free itself, dropped down and pulled itself back together, and backflipped away to dodge the Namekian's follow-up swing.

A Keyblade wreathed in Light magic came spinning in, slashing across the Buu-Shade's side, and then a burst of light accompanied Erika teleporting herself to her weapon. She followed with a punishing barrage of strikes, slashing the Stroke of Midnight across the Kid Buu-Shade's body. However, the wounds she dealt sealed themselves up quickly, and even though the Shade's eyes were solid red she could tell its gaze on her was angry and annoyed. Then, it raised and pointed its palm at her, and Erika immediately cast Reflega. As the _ki_ blast struck, the magic barrier shattered, the transferred concussive force of the blast knocking Erika back while at the same time the 'shards' of the barrier cut into the Shade, though the wounds quickly self-repaired. Erika held a hand to her heart; there'd been so much power in that blast, it would've definitely killed her with a direct hit at that range.

Ryūko moved in next, using a Scissor Blade charged with Tailed Beast chakra to bat aside a _ki_ blast thrown her way and then closing in to deliver a fiery punch. She followed with a rapid barrage of powerful kicks that knocked the Buu-Shade's head almost 180 degrees around. But the shadowy being simply grabbed its own head and twisted it back to normal, and then a palm strike sent Ryūko hurtling back.

The Kid Buu-Shade's appearance abruptly changed further with a flash of pinkish-red; the pink portions had widened, more appeared on its shoulders, some yellow became visible on where the boots would be, and now it had a visible mouth to open, full of sharp teeth with a bright red glow to match its eyes. Furthermore, its power level had jumped even more; it was now equal in power to Fat/Good Buu, the strongest 'hero unit' on the field.

A wavering blue field of energy enveloped the Buu-Shade, Biotic energy tearing at it as Shepard hit it with a combination Stasis/Warp. While it was stricken by that, Ahsoka unleashed a wave of Force Lightning. After a few seconds of this, the Buu-Shade let out a powerful pulse/shockwave of energy, blasting off the energy assailing it and making Shepard and Ahsoka stagger back. As it regenerated from the damage, the Buu-Shade fired a powerful energy blast at Shepard, who had to Biotic-Charge to get out of the way in time. Naruto and Teana moved in next, the two 'golden warriors' attacking with bone-crushing blows from two directions. After a few seconds of this, though, the dark entity suddenly caught their blows and pulled them in close for a double knee strike to the gut, knocking the wind out of both of them. It was about to go for a killing strike, when Kurama took action, forming one chakra arm from Naruto's golden cloak to punch the Buu-Shade in the face, knocking it back, while the other grabbed Teana, and the part of the cloak covering Naruto's legs acted on its own to move him and jump the both of them away from the Buu-Shade.

A Special Beam Cannon shot from Piccolo pierced through the Buu-Shade's chest from behind, but this barely even slowed it down as it turned its gaze to Good Buu. As the hole in its torso sealed up, it took to the air and rushed at Good Buu, who made a determined-angry face and charged in to meet it. They met in the middle with a shockwave-inducing clash, and flew into a lightning-fast exchange of brutally powerful punches and kicks. They both flew straight up as they continued pummeling each other, soon adding point-blank _ki_ blasts to the mix, with stray shots blasting craters in the landscape around and below (thankfully not landing too close to the others).

Finally, Good Buu managed to get a solid hit in, knocking the Kid Buu-Shade back. Piccolo flash-stepped up into its path, sending it careening down at an angle with a falling axe-blow. Naruto was next, kicking it back upward, and then Teana appeared above it, and just as it reached her she slammed an _Ōdama Rasengan_ down into it, sending it spiraling down into the ground below with great force. She, Piccolo, Naruto, and Buu followed with a lengthy barrage of energy blasts, kicking up a significant degree of dust and smoke and shaking the earth from the impacts.

(MUSIC END)

Everything gradually went quiet as they ceased their barrage, floating back down to the ground and observing the slowly settling dust cloud. But then, they saw as a small figure stumbled partially out of the smoke – the Shade, now with more pink and white to its form. Then, its body flashed a reddish-pink. The ground rumbled softly as a red aura enveloped it… and then the aura began to change to pink as the black portions of its body rapidly shrunk and shifted away, replaced by pink 'flesh' and white pants. The heroes watched in horror as, over the course of several seconds, the blackness completely vanished, and the entity's energy signature completed its shift to one considerably more powerful and horrifyingly familiar.

"We're… too late…" Piccolo whispered in horror.

On a pink face, eyes with red irises and pitch-black sclera snapped open. The small, lean-muscled being reared out and let out a deafening, unholy shriek of primal fury and madness, the sound waves making the world tremble and the ground crack and buckle, the air rippling and clouds being blown back and away. The shriek transitioned into something else, and the little daemon pounded his chest, head turned upward toward the turbulent sky, eyes wide and mouth wide open in an expression of vicious glee.

"He's… _back_…"

As the heroes looked on and trembled, the insane laughter of Kid Buu echoed out.

**-**_**CHAPTER END**_**-**

Next Time: a Beatdown from Bad Buu, followed by the culmination of two lost souls' intertwined stories.


	5. Closure

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

**-**_**CHAPTER START**_**-**

**Realm LN-34**

**Oberon Sector, Fae System, Planet Jin-Ya-Sai**

(MUSIC: _Dragon Ball _Z American OST (Bruce Faulconer) – Buu the Majin Sagas: "Super Buu" (Track 28))

The heroes trembled as they beheld a nightmare realized – the living embodiment of mad destruction of all things, brought back to life. Kid Buu let out a crazed giggle as he looked out at the people arrayed against him, including his rotund pure-hearted counterpart. Good Buu growled as he got ready for the chaotic brawl he knew was coming. Kid Buu took a step forward, and as the heroes reflexively stepped back in fear, his grin widened in amusement.

"_Play_…" he hissed.

Kid Buu took another leisurely step forward, and then suddenly burst into motion, flying low right over the ground, toward the heroes with significant speed. A few of them fired _ki_ blasts, but he swatted them aside without even slowing down. As he closed in, Ahsoka and Satsuki barely had time to protectively brace themselves before they were kicked away a dozen meters each. Kid Buu chose Naruto as his first target, pushing the youth clad in golden chakra back with a flurry of blows that Naruto narrowly managed to block. Naruto managed to pull off a feint and then a heavy right hook that knocked the pink monster's head to the side. But the daemon just grinned at him, straightening his neck back out as the fist-sized indentation and hot-chakra burn on his cheek healed, and then lashed out with a lightning-fast uppercut that rocketed Naruto skyward.

Before Kid Buu could fly up in pursuit, Good Buu got in his way. The little daemon frowned as he remembered his pure half, and then there was a small shockwave as the two Buus' punches were intercepted by each other's fists. They flew into an exchange of blows so rapid their limbs became intermingled blurs, striking and blocking. However, it soon became obvious that Kid Buu was the one getting more hits in past Good Buu's guard, and soon he landed a blow that nearly punched a hole through Good Buu's body as it sent the big guy flying back into a rock formation.

There was a sudden rush of movement, the air looking like it wavered, and Kid Buu abruptly fell apart into multiple pieces, having been slashed through by all of Mariko's vectors in the space of half a second. However, those multiple pink pieces floated up and began rapidly converging together, forming a mass of pink that looked like chewed-up gum that then began to re-assume Kid Buu's shape, as the triumphant grin dropped off of Mariko's face like a weight was strapped to it. Before Buu had even finished reforming, he fired a pair of _ki_ blasts at her.

There was a flash of light as Erika used the _Hiraishin_ seal she'd placed on the back of Mariko's neck to teleport to her position, casting an extra-strength Reflega that just barely withstood Buu's attack. Buu barely had time to finish reforming before Erika was on him, striking with her Keyblade, and the pink daemon was briefly on the defensive, dodging and blocking the attacks; with him being an entity of primordial dark magic, and the Keyblade being a weapon of Holy-class Light magic, it actually hurt even though he blocked the strikes with his armguards. Growling, he snapped his hands out and caught the blade mid-swing, yanking it to the side to throw Erika off-balance, and then grabbed her by the throat with one hand. He grabbed Mariko with the other hand, clonked the girls' heads together so hard it nearly concussed them, and then tossed them away with significant force.

Ryūko, Piccolo, and Teana rushed in next, attacking Kid Buu from three directions with barrages of blows (and coordinating telepathically to ensure they didn't get in each other's way even at the speed they were attacking). However, Kid Buu managed to use his arms, legs, and even extended and hardened his head-tail to block their strikes. He let out a pulse to knock them back a bit and stun them, and struck Piccolo in the face with an elbow blow that sent the Namekian spinning back, following with an uppercut to Teana's solar plexus and a point-blank _ki_ blast that sent her into the same rock formation that Good Buu was pulling himself out of.

"Is this what Marie calls 'getting Worfed'?" Teana groaned dazedly as she tried to get back up.

After landing a rising knee to the gut and then a hammer blow that slammed Kid Buu into the ground, Ryūko took to the air, being joined by Naruto and Good Buu, and the trio began firing red, pink, and gold energy blasts down at the little daemon. But as the dust built up below, Kid Buu didn't even wait for them to finish blasting before bursting up out of the cloud of debris and extending his arms to catch all three with a clothesline move. He then wrapped his extended arms around the trio, spun them around a few times, and hurled them down toward the ground.

Now feeling a bit bored with this group, Kid Buu decided to call it a day and find somewhere else to play. Pointing his palm down, he began charging a deceptively small _ki_ blast that would literally crack the planet open. However, he halted as he saw a bright swirling flash of light on the edge of the battlefield, letting the gathered _ki_ return to his body as he looked at the source. At the center of a flickering, powerful aura stood a young girl, black hair with light-pink ends and bangs as well as a pair of small, rounded horns sprouting from the sides of her head, angry green eyes staring up at Buu, wearing a gold-lined black vest and a billowy white skirt.

"Playtime's over" Marika said in her dual voice.

The fused warrior took to the air, shooting toward Kid Buu with incredible speed. The opening blow came faster than Kid Buu could react, hitting him in the gut so hard an imprint of the fist stuck out his back. As Buu doubled over in surprised pain, Mariko hit him with an overhead hammer-blow that sent him careening into the ground hard enough to make a small crater. After a few seconds, the kicked-up dust was blown away by a high shout of fury, revealing Kid Buu looking rather mad as he glared up at the fused girl.

"Come" Marika said, beckoning him.

Kid Buu shot up into the sky, racing toward Marika, and they met with a shockwave-producing clash. After several seconds of exchanging lightning-fast blows, Marika quick-formed a Rasengan and slammed it into Buu's chest, blasting a hole through and sending him spiraling back. She flash-stepped ahead into his path, summoning her Keyblade and delivering a swift and brutal combo of blows, and then formed a 'super-vector' and used the giant spectral fist to send him flying.

As he regenerated, Kid Buu came roaring back with a vengeance, unleashing a hail of pink _ki_ blasts that Marika was hard-pressed to block or avoid. He used this attack as cover to get in close to her, and struck with a heavy left hook. Marika grunted as she rolled with the blow, and countered with an uppercut that rocked Buu's head back. They flew back and started firing _ki _blasts at each other, each shot intercepting the opponent's, filling the air with explosions. They finished by firing quick-charged Kamehameha blasts at each other, but after several seconds of equal struggling the bluish beams exploded with spectacular force, neither having been able to overcome the other.

As the fighting continued, the people below looked on. Through training by herself and by her two 'components', Marika was now stronger than Gotenks' base form, perhaps even close to his Super Saiyan power level. But even so, this only brought her either to or slightly below Kid Buu's power level, and with his potent regeneration this meant she wouldn't be able to finish him off before her 30 minutes were up.

Though not the sharpest tool in the shed, Kid Buu was smart enough to realize this, that his new opponent wasn't quite strong enough to actually beat him. He giggled with manic glee as he looked at Marika, who was visibly panting as she hovered in the air glaring at him. His grin widened as he began charging a powerful _ki _blast, and then let it fly. Marika braced herself, preparing for some pain. Suddenly, a bluish-purple energy blast curved in from below, striking Buu's blast and carrying it high into the sky. The resulting explosion blew clouds away for miles around, as Kid Buu looked on in surprise.

"Hey Buu" two male voices spoke simultaneously. "Remember us?"

Kid Buu turned around, and hovering several feet away was a fused Saiyan warrior in his base state, glaring calmly at his components' old enemy. Though initially confused, Buu soon managed to puzzle out the recognizable feel of the two intermingled _ki_ signatures, and he growled as an expression of fury formed on his face.

"So you _do_ know who and what I am" Gogeta said. "In that case, you know that you're doomed."

Kid Buu cried out in rage as he fired a large, destructive wave of energy that completely engulfed Gogeta. However, when it faded after a few seconds the fused Saiyan hadn't budged an inch and was completely unharmed, not even a hair out of place. Taking a second to savor the jaw-dropped expression of shock on the daemon's face, Gogeta then moved in faster than anyone could see, landing a rising kick so strong it punched clean through Kid Buu's gut. Even with a gradually-sealing hole through his torso, Buu snarled and lashed out with a full-strength punch aimed at Gogeta's throat, only for it to do nothing.

Majin Buu's pure 'Kid' form was, although the most dangerous Buu because of his insanity and utter lack of restraint, only around 50% as powerful as the base state of 'Super' Buu. Gogeta, meanwhile, was – in his base, untransformed state – as powerful as Super Buu with the absorbed power of Gotenks, Piccolo, and Mystic-form Gohan had been. Going Super Saiyan added a 50% power-level increase, with SS2 adding another 50% to make him twice as strong as his base state, and going SS3 (now possible due to Vegeta's recent unlocking of that form) would theoretically double that power-level again to a monstrous 400% of Gohan-Absorbed Super Buu's, but against Kid Buu even SS1 would be horrendous overkill. All in all, Gogeta was the single most powerful entity in the entire Dimensional Defense Force. Really, between him and Kid Buu it was no contest.

[AN: Just a note – this neat and clean power-level percentage increase is pretty much only for Gogeta, by pure chance; there's no "everybody increases by this very amount/percentage when assuming so-and-so transformation". In fact, although Fusion-Dance Saiyans naturally have truly enormous power levels, their transformations give them proportionately/percentage-wise _less_ of an increase; for instance, the power-level of Goku & Vegeta's SS3 forms is _far_ higher than 'just' 4 times that of their normal states]

Gogeta grabbed Kid Buu's arm with one hand, and with the other he then chopped it off. Before Buu could cry out, he was then struck across the face by his own severed arm so hard that if he had any bones, his neck would've broken. Gogeta then unleashed a withering barrage of blows so fast that Kid Buu couldn't even react, and so powerful that each one dealt significant damage. He finished by grabbing Kid Buu's face and flying downward with him, slamming the daemon head-first into the ground.

After a few seconds, Kid Buu shot up into the air, letting out a scream of unrivaled fury. Taking position overhead, he held his regenerated arm upward, forming a sphere of roiling pink energy that grew and grew until it was six feet across – enough power to blow the planet to smithereens four times over. He threw his arm downward, and the sphere of dark power rushed toward the ground. Gogeta steadied himself, and then with perfect timing he lashed out with a kick that sent the destructive _ki_ ball soaring upward with incredible velocity. It shot up into space, and was diverted through a hastily-formed voidspace portal opened by the orbiting TSAB ship, sending it to detonate harmlessly inside the non-Realm.

Kid Buu stared in shock, unable to comprehend it. Gogeta took this opportunity to vanish from the little daemon's sight. Then, there was the sound of charging power and a glowing blue light nearby. Kid Buu turned, and saw Gogeta hovering there practically right next to him, with a sizable sphere of bluish-white power in front of his outstretched arms. Buu knew there was no escape, and the last thing he heard was…

"Big Bang Kamehameha!-!"

With a flash and a wave of explosive energy, Kid Buu was utterly annihilated, his pure-evil soul sent to Hell once again. As the dust settled, Gogeta leisurely floated back down to the ground, joining Marika and the others.

"That coulda been a lot worse" he remarked. "Could someone please tell me how Buu came back in the first place?"

"Slind is still alive" Piccolo replied. "He sicced these 'Shades of Existence' on us. When one of them, a strong one with no real distinguishing form unlike the others, made contact with Good Buu, it assumed Kid Buu's shape. As the fight wore on, it actualized into the _real_ Majin Buu."

"In addition to Slind being back and 'Joker' still being around," Tien spoke up, "Amon has recruited Ridley and resurrected Dabura."

"I see…" Gogeta said. "Sounds like Amon knows what a few of our sages and 'fore-seers' have seen: it won't be long before the big war against his Hybrids and the Zerg he still has control over starts."

"Let's hope all our people over there are ready, then" Teana replied as she de-transformed from Super Saiyan back to her normal state.

"Well, Valerian and Raynor are doing what they can, Kerrigan's started searching for clues in the outer reaches, and… Vegeta has heard rumors that the Protoss might be planning to try and reclaim Aiur…"

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

**Realm LN-34**

**Oberon Sector, Talcus System, Planet Belka**

Nanoha Takamachi flew low and slow over a grassy area of rolling hills, her senses attuned to her surroundings. She and Fate had been here for a day or so, helping search for a small anomalous reading. Fate was searching a rocky area a few dozen kilometers to the south, while Nanoha was searching this hilly grassland. Everything seemed peaceful and quiet here…

She suddenly had to dive and roll to avoid a red arrowhead-shaped energy bolt. Setting down on the ground, she looked around for the culprit. Soon, there was a flash of reddish-orange light off to the side, and she turned in time to see a fairly petite-built girl physically a few years younger than her, clad in black armor with red and orange 'highlights', carrying a staff with a crimson spherical gem in the head, and no helmet to hinder her long black hair or hide the angry, conflicted look on her face.

"Eve…" Nanoha spoke softly.

"Do not talk to me like that" the Lucavi snapped, her voice brimming with only-partially-restrained emotion; she was still badly shaken by her experience aboard the _Mantle's Approach_, when Teana had forced her to see/hear/'feel' the goodness and concern in the hearts of all those humans regarding her tale and the knowledge of what had been done to her. Conflicted and hurt, faced with the possibility of the driving force in her life being wrong, she was reacting the only way she could: by desperately lashing out.

"Eve, honey, please… Let's not fight, okay? I know that you're upset and confused, so how about we just sit down, relax, and talk about things?"

Eve took a battle stance with her staff. "I can't do that" she replied, her voice carrying a slight tremble. "I… It has to be a lie! H-Humans wouldn't… People wouldn't… You! You people are trying to trick me! T-Trying to make me think that… that my beliefs, the purpose of my life, are wrong! It _can't_ be wrong! It's all I have left! I… If I kill you, I'll make this all stop!"

"No…" Nanoha said sadly, feeling the depths of Eve's confusion and pain. "You'll just make it worse. Please, Eve, just let me help you. I _want_ to help you. Just give me a chance!"

Eve's response was another energy bolt, and Nanoha tilted her head to the side to dodge it. The young woman took a deep breath, knowing that there was only one thing she could do now.

"Alright, then" Nanoha spoke lowly as she called Raising Heart to its active mode. "I tried so hard to talk you down. But if you're so upset that you won't listen, I have no choice…"

(CLIMACTIC BATTLE MUSIC: _Kingdom Hearts II.5 HD _– "The 13th Dilemma")

"…but to calm you down the hard way!"

Eve shouted out in power and pained anger as her crimson aura flared, the air around her wavering as she twirled her staff. After a few seconds, she fired a wave of energy bolts, and charged in right behind them. Nanoha formed a Round Shield to block the projectiles, and then brought Raising Heart up to block a downward swing of Eve's weapon. She went on the defensive, giving ground as she blocked Eve's furious assault. Finally seeing a split-second opening, Nanoha shifted a bit to the right, letting Eve's momentum from a thrust overextend her, and in one quick movement tossed Raising Heart up, grabbed Eve's upper body with one hand and pulled her into a punch from the other, knocking the girl back as the Device came back down into its owner's hands.

Nanoha conjured and fired a dozen Accel Shooter bolts, but Eve spun her staff to deflect them. The Lucavi then shifted her staff into its double-bladed pseudo-lightsaber form, and made a Force-powered leap at Nanoha. Nanoha reinforced and enveloped Raising Heart's shaft with protective magic that proved capable of withstanding the energy blades as Eve flowed from a falling strike into a series of spinning ones. This lasted long enough for Nanoha to land a well-timed kick that made Eve stagger back, allowing Nanoha to shift her Intelligent Device to its newest mode, created using Cross Mirage's and Charon's melee forms as inspiration:

"Starblade Mode" Raising Heart announced.

The entire staff-like device seemingly became a mass of glowing pink light that shifted and shrunk, fading to reveal that it had become what looked like a gold & white hilt and cross-guard of an absent sword, with the small red spherical gem set into the base of the guard. A flash of light accompanied the formation of a fairly long blade of bright-pink energy that possessed a subtle curve – modeled after the metal blade her father once wielded, as well as the wooden ones he had instructed his wife and three children with.

After checking to ensure the blade of energy was 'set' to inflict non-lethal magical damage, Nanoha charged, taking the initiative while her opponent was still surprised by the new development. Now Eve was the one on the defensive, surprised by Nanoha's adeptness with a blade thanks to her family's long tradition of _kenjutsu_. Eventually, though, Eve regained her 'balance', so to speak, and started pushing back, locking blades with the young woman in white. Again going on the defensive, Nanoha dodged a swing aimed at her legs by flying upward, taking position a hundred meters overhead as she switched Raising Heart back to its staff mode. In response, Eve glared up at her, and then jumped… and then instead of coming back down, she sped up, shooting up through the air under her own power toward a surprised Nanoha.

'When did she learn to fly?-!'

Nanoha quickly brought up a Round Shield just in time to block a slash of Eve's energy blade. Eve then separated her weapon into two single-blades, battering at the shield until it began to fracture. She followed with a focused Force Push that shattered the weakened barrier and sent Nanoha flying back. When Eve followed to try for a finishing blow, however, Nanoha recovered much quicker than the Lucavi expected, striking with a powerful kick that Eve felt quite a bit even through her armor. She followed this with a point-blank strike from a dozen Accel Shooter bolts, knocking Eve back and dealing some more magical-based damage.

In a flash of red light Eve returned her weapons to their/its single staff form. She held the staff's head high as a mass of compressed energy formed above the tip, transparent but distorting the air enough to be plainly seen, wreathed in crackling electrical energy. She swept her staff forward, and the blast shot toward Nanoha with great speed. Nanoha flew backward while firing a few _ki _blasts, hitting and dispersing the energy ball, and then a Midchildan rune-circle appeared beneath her as she focused her power, and dozens of pink balls of energy formed around her:

"Accel Shooter: Storm Shift!"

Every one of the pink mana bolts shot out towards Eve. The 'fallen' Lucavi had an expression of slight panic as she immediately formed the strongest spherical barrier around herself that she could muster. The bombardment hammered at her shield, which only held up for a little less than half of the barrage before collapsing, subjecting Eve to the rest of the mana-projectiles directly. When the smoke cleared, she was still hovering there, but her armor was visibly damaged, and she was panting and wincing as she tried to fight through the magically-induced pain.

"Please, Eve, that's enough!" Nanoha said. "I don't like hurting you!"

In response, Eve cried out in fury as her aura flared. The cloudy sky overhead seemed to suddenly darken, and the wind picked up, swirling around the girl. Nanoha watched in surprise as Wind magic and Force energy combined and compressed, forming into what looked like transparent staffs or lances, three of them hovering around Eve. Eve formed a single energy blade from the head of her staff, brandishing it as the three wind-lances spun around her. She charged through the air at Nanoha, who now had to contend with _four_ lethally sharp blades, keeping her on the defensive for the moment.

Eve's assault forced Nanoha down to the ground, using quick-formed small Shield spells and Starblade-form Raising Heart to block what she couldn't dodge. Finally, though, she managed to quick-form a single Accel Shooter bolt down by her stomach and fire it upward, hitting Eve in the chin from below. Nanoha then leapt back, and fired several more with precision, striking and destroying Eve's wind-lances. Eve gasped in shock, and then bared her teeth as her eyes glowed red, and she floated up into the air a little, holding the head of her staff high. A 'thick' red aura clung to her body, and then crimson energy coalesced around the head of her staff, forming into the shape of a very large double-headed ax. She rushed at Nanoha, and each swing of the energy-ax released a destructive shockwave of power. When she leapt forward and brought the ax down, and Nanoha dodged to the side, the released power shattered the ground for meters around.

Eve's berserk assault continued, tearing holes in the earth and making the very air rumble and heave. Finally, though, she ran out of steam for a moment, letting the head of her weapon rest on the ground as she panted for breath. Nanoha took the opportunity, charging in with her device in staff mode, and Eve had to quickly dispel her axe-blades and block the strike with her own staff. They pushed against each other, with Eve visibly having to put more effort into it.

"Come on, Eve" Nanoha grunted as she pushed against Eve's staff with her own. "Let's stop this. Please, let me help you!"

"Why won't you stop?-!" Eve snapped back. "Why would a human pretend to care about me?-!"

"I'm _not_ pretending! I thought you would have realized that after our talk on the Citadel! The people who did those things to you were monsters, but they could never represent humanity as a whole; you saw for yourself, thanks to Teana, how normal people are disgusted by people like them! We have people looking for the survivors of those evil people now, to make them pay for their crimes! …I know I can never take away all the horrible things that were done to you, but I want to help you find the happiness and safety in life you deserve – that _everyone_ deserves! I look at you, and I see someone gripped by darkness and confusion and anger, and beneath that… beneath that, I can see a young girl, curled up in pain and sorrow. I want to help that sad little girl lean to smile again, to let go of the hate poisoning your heart before it consumes you. I'm a sage, a heroine of justice… and a mother. Please… let me help you, protect you, take care of you."

"Stop… Please, just _stop_! If I kill you, t-this will all stop!"

"Is that really what you want to do?"

"I… I never wanted _any_ of this!-!" Eve screamed out, tears in her eyes. "I was only 17! I was just doing my job as recon, but then those humans accused me of horrible things to cover their own atrocities, turned me into a toddler, handed me off to be demeaned, tortured, and _violated_! The power of darkness was the only option left for me, to get revenge on the people who destroyed what little a life I had! This is all that's left for me! There… There _can't _be more good people than bad; after everything that happened to me… Humans aren't like that!"

"…_I_ am like that." Nanoha slowly lowered her staff, giving the confused and distraught Eve a warm smile. "And so are Fate, and our little Vivio, and Teana, and Shepard, and the Chief, and the PreCures, and Negi-kun and his friends… We _all_ want to help you, Eve. Please… won't you take my hand?"

Eve trembled lightly, looking completely lost. After a few seconds, her eyes actually seemed to soften somewhat, and her arm actually slowly twitched upward. But then, she brought her hands to her head, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her teeth. She groaned as if in pain both physical and emotional, and then her body erupted with a pitch-black aura of Darkness. When she looked at Nanoha again, her eyes were glowing red. 

"That path…" she almost-hissed "is lost to me."

"…No, it's not. If you can't see it, I'll lead you to it myself! Struggle Bind!"

Multiple bright pink bands of energy formed around Eve's limbs and body, holding her in place. As she struggled, Nanoha shot up into the sky, hovering high overhead, and shifted Raising Heart to Shooting Mode.

"Gather, light of the stars…"

Motes of pink light began to very rapidly converge, forming an increasingly large and bright sphere of pink and white energy at the head of her staff. Gathering the ambient mana of the planet, the immediate area, and energy from within her own body, she then used her newest trick, converting it into Light-based 'purifying' magic – the same used in PreCures' finishing attacks, Keyblades of Light, the Elements of Harmony, and (in another Realm yet undiscovered by the DDF) Sailor Moon's powers.

"Eve… I'm so sorry, sweetie, but this is going to hurt. The darkness left behind from your two fallen masters' taint on your heart… I will free you from it! And I'll show you that you won't have to face your own darkness alone!"

Finally breaking free from the Bind spell, Eve gasped as she looked up at the massive amount of Light magic building overhead. Knowing she'd never be able to avoid it, she held her staff up and conjured the strongest shield spell she had ever created. Up overhead, Nanoha took a deep breath, and then pulled the trigger.

"_Purification: Starlight Breaker!-!-!_"

For a second, there was nothing. Then, with a thunderous roar, the massive bright-pink beam of energy erupted forth, shooting straight down toward Eve. It crashed against her max-strength shield… and shattered it in less than two seconds. Eve's eyes widened as she saw her staff, held out in front, disintegrate before her eyes. Then the beam hit her, and all she knew was pink and white.

(BOSS MUSIC END)

As the explosion of light faded, Nanoha descended into the stirred-up smoke and dust. It was difficult to see, but soon she found what she was looking for: Eve, laying face-down in the center of the new crater, her armor completely destroyed and the underlying bodysuit in tatters. Without her attitude and armor, it was easy for Nanoha to see how small Eve actually was; she couldn't have been any taller than Marie or Kaede. Her petite body was trembling and shaking a little, and she let out a weak groan as she tried to push herself up, looking at Nanoha with exhausted eyes as the older girl knelt down in front of her.

(MUSIC: _Fresh PreCure _OST 1 Track 27 – "I Believe" {私、信じてる})

"Why…?" Eve whispered. "Why do you care so much about what happens to me? What do you get out of it?"

Nanoha gave the girl a warm, gentle smile, though it was also a bit sad. "Silly" she replied. "I've already told you why. Not a single word of what I said was a lie. I want to help you find the happiness, safety, and warmth that you've been missing for so long. So many terrible things have happened to you; I wanted to give you what you lost back then: hope, peace, love, safety… There's no ulterior motive; as a good person, a magical girl, and a mother… after all I've learned about you, the times we've talked, I just wanted to see you safe and happy."

Looking up at Nanoha, even as she felt her own body steadily growing weaker, Eve was finally able to understand and accept that the young woman was completely genuine, just like Shepard was… and maybe, just maybe, those other humans were too. Seeing Nanoha's warm, motherly smile, Eve felt choked up, her eyes growing moist.

"I… I just don't know anymore…" she forced out, her voice weak.

"It's okay…" Nanoha replied softly, reaching out to caress the younger girl's cheek even as Eve's body seemed to be starting to slowly dissolve into particles of darkness.

"I don't know if… I can live any other way…"

Eve then gasped softly as she was pulled up into a close, tender hug. Feeling Nanoha's warmth and kindness, the feeling of safety, her hand gently running through Eve's long black hair, Eve finally gave in. Nanoha felt and heard as the first quiet sob shook the petite girl's body. Then, Eve's body 'flashed' with darkness and light. Particles of both seemed to rapidly float away, blowing off in the gentle breeze, as Eve T'Lesh apparently came apart.

"It's okay now, Eve. You're safe. I've got you. …It's okay."

…After several seconds, the process was complete. Now, in Nanoha's arms was a tiny little black-haired 3-year-old, small even for her age, still clinging tightly to Nanoha as she softly cried. On the backs of each of the little girl's tiny hands, a black 'P' surrounded by a circle flashed with light and burned/dissolved away, looking like pure-white flames blowing off as embers, leaving behind a silver 'I' on each hand.

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

**Several Kilometers Away**

**Simultaneous with Nanoha vs. Eve**

Fate Testarossa-Harlaown walked amongst the rocks and shrubbery, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she was startled by the sound of a Corridor of Darkness opening nearby. She turned, just in time to see Ruin emerge through the dark portal, Dark Keyblades in hand. Fate's gold-eyed, black-haired doppelganger was giving her a calm yet explicitly murderous glare.

"Today," she growled, "here and now… we settle things between you and me, Fate. No more mutual foes, no more falling back when I lose the upper hand, no more speeches… Just you and me, until there's only one of us left!"

Fate confusedly took a combat stance, a serious yet puzzled expression on her face. "Ruin, what is this all of a sudden? Why now?"

"Don't play dumb! I know what you and your people were planning to do!"

"…What are you talking about?"

"They told me everything! They told me about how you people were planning to kill Eve!"

After a second to process what she'd just heard, Fate gasped in shock and horror at the very idea of it. "What?-! I-I would never do… Who in the _hell_ told you that? We don't want to hurt Eve; we want to _help _her!"

(CLIMACTIC BATTLE MUSIC: _Kingdom Hearts 3D _– "_L'Impeto Oscuro_")

A pitch-black aura of Darkness flared around Ruin, a look of desperate rage on her face as black electricity crackled along the length of her Dark Keyblades.

"Enough lies!" she shouted. "I won't let you hurt the only person who matters to me! Master Xehanort's given me the power to finish this once and for all! So one last time, let's shed some blood!"

Feeling the dark power surging from and around Ruin's Heart, and not all of it her own, Fate resigned herself to this. Her own energy flared, a golden-yellow color, as she summoned the Sign of Innocence and switched Bardiche to Keyblade Form in twin flashes of light.

After a few seconds, the two charged at each other. They met in the middle, a fast-paced furious exchange of blades right off the bat. It went on for nearly half a minute, the clanging of metal against metal as each young woman tried to break through her opponent's guard while simultaneously blocking the other's blows. They broke apart, leaping back several meters from each other and simultaneously firing waves of gold and black energy bolts at each other. The Photon Lancers crashed into each other, each bolt being neutralized by an opposing one.

Fate channeled her magic and rushed forward with a blitz of speed, striking Ruin with a Sonic Blade attack. Ruin snarled in pain and anger, and then before Fate could get out of the way she hit the blonde with a Strike Raid attack, knocking her over. Ruin then leapt toward Fate, aiming to land Keyblade-first on her, but Fate suddenly curled up and kicked her feet upward right into Ruin's gut, knocking her up and back and giving Fate the chance to jump back to her feet. Ruin growled and then fired four Dark Firaga blasts at Fate, who formed a high-strength Round Shield that just barely blocked all four. Fate then quickly dismissed her Keyblades to free her hands to form seals:

"_Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga_!" {雷遁・雷獣追牙; Lightning Beast Tracking Fang}

[AN: First it had no official name and I called it '_Rairyōken_' (Lightning Hound), then one of the video games called it '_Raijū Hashiri_' (Lightning Beast Running) and I followed suit, and NOW I finally find out that the manga/anime canon gave it a different name!]

Two 'lightning hounds' raced forth, dashing toward Ruin and zigzagging to dodge the mana bolts she fired at them. As they got in close, she swung her Keyblades and hit one of them, dispelling it, but the other struck her, and she cried out as the electric-type chakra assailed her. As soon as the shock had ended, Fate was in her face, lashing out with several unarmed blows. Ruin made her stop by channeling lightning magic around herself, making Fate jump back, re-summoning her Keyblades as she did.

Ruin went on the offensive, channeling dark Lightning-type magic through her Keyblades as she swung and struck with them, forcing Fate back as she dodged and blocked. Finally Fate managed to strike out with a kick to Ruin's leg, throwing Ruin off-balance and making her flinch and stumble, allowing Fate to land a solid combo of Keyblade blows, the finisher knocking Ruin back. Fighting through the pain, Ruin fired a wave of Darkness bolts from the tips of her Keyblades. Fate held the Sign of Innocence forward as she cast Reflega, stopping most of the bolts, and a Cure spell healed the bit of damage dealt by those that got through.

The two young women took to the air, zipping about as their proximity grew and shrunk, trading energy blasts when distant and blade strikes when up close, blocking or avoiding most of each other's attacks but still taking a few hits. They rushed in close, each dispelling a Keyblade, and landed simultaneous punches on each other's faces, knocking each other back several meters. Fate sent out a wave of _Chidori Senbon_, and Ruin cast a Dark Shield to deflect them before then channeling the shield's energy into a compressed projectile she fired at Fate, who cleaved it into fours with a slice from her weapons. Fate then fired a combined blast from the tips of her Keyblades, blowing Ruin back. Upon steadying herself in the air, Ruin growled as she held her Dark Keyblades high with tips pointed toward each other, and a mass of black electric-magic gathered between them, growing larger and larger.

"Black Thunder Dragon!"

The mass of dark energy erupted in the form of a large serpentine dragon made of black Lightning-type magic, curving up through the air and then diving toward Fate. The tall blonde's eyes widened as she dove and flew backward, the dark-magic construct chasing her. After several seconds, she managed to get enough distance and time to quickly dispel her standard Keyblade, shift Bardiche from Keyblade Mode to Zanber Mode, and with a mighty swing of the huge golden energy blade she decapitated the lightning-dragon, making the technique fizzle out.

Fate was then blindsided as Ruin appeared right over her, fists brought together and held overhead. Fate couldn't react in time, and the hammer-blow sent her careening down toward the ground. At the last second she managed to regain some control, landing feet-first and letting her basic magic protect her body from harm and transfer the kinetic energy into the ground, which buckled beneath her. Ruin came in for a landing and charged Fate, but the blonde dodged Ruin's next attack, leaping up over a low Keyblade swing, and then lashed out with a spinning kick that snapped Ruin's head to the side, sending her tumbling.

Ruin focused her dark power, glowing with a 'thick' aura as she slowly rose up from the ground, Keyblades glowing with charged energy. She then dashed forward, flying low over the ground at high speed, Keyblades' pointy ends out front, right toward Fate. Fate rolled to the side to dodge it, but behind her Ruin abruptly 'rebounded' off a quick-conjured Round Shield used as a launching platform, coming at her again. Ruin did this again and again, moving with blitzing speed, and Fate was hard-pressed to dodge them, taking a few glancing blows. Finally, Ruin leapt high over Fate, and then plunged down blades-first. Fate narrowly dodged it, only to be sent flying by the very powerful bright shockwave of released energy.

'I remember from the games…' Fate thought to herself as she straightened up, feeling new aches and pains. 'That 'Dark Aura' dashing attack Xehanort-Riku used in his boss fight always gave me a little trouble. I guess it's even _less_ fun in person…'

Seeing Ruin coming again, Fate cast Cura on herself and then readied her two Keyblades to match Ruin's. They met in the middle with a clang of magic metal, Fate and Ruin having each struck with one Keyblade and blocked with the other. They pushed against each other, two fighters of equal physical strength trying and failing to overcome one another. Both surrounded themselves in auras of crackling lightning magic, tiny thunderclaps ringing out as miniscule bolts of gold and black electric magic struck each other. Finally, Ruin broke the stalemate by rearing back and then headbutting Fate, stunning and knocking the blonde back. She went for a killing slash, but Fate flash-stepped backward, flowing into a sequence of hand-seals and exhaling a sizable blast of Fire-type chakra. Ruin stood her ground, and as the _Gōkakyū _got close she charged her Keyblades with so much power that they glowed, and then slashed out, bisecting and dispelling the fireball.

The battle went on with no clear advantage for many more minutes, with Ruin fighting harder than ever due to the technically-admirable motivation of protecting someone dear to her, but being driven to near-mad rage and fury by the Darkness that empowered her. Both combatants soon began to tire, but still they fought on. Ruin was a little unsteady, having taken multiple blows from the Light-magic Keyblades that Fate wielded, but she wouldn't give up; she _couldn't_ give up, not with Eve's life at stake.

Once more they rushed at each other, meeting in the middle with a furious clash, their four blades almost a blur as they swung and thrusted and blocked and parried. They then dispelled their Keyblades temporarily, entering an unarmed CQC/martial-arts duel, striking and blocking and dodging, both of them giving and taking blows. As Ruin quickly summoned one of her weapons, Fate leapt back, barely avoiding a bisecting strike. As she 'flew' back, she threw the Sign of Innocence in a Strike Raid attack. The rapidly-spinning Keyblade wreathed in Light magic sped toward Ruin, but the other girl managed to twist to the side, barely dodging it.

…And then, Fate vanished in a burst of light, reappearing directly behind Eve with a solid grip on the Sign of Innocence's hilt. Ruin's eyes widened in shock, and she began to turn around, but it was too late. With her weapon still glowing with Light-type magic, Fate swung it as hard as she could. It struck with full force, a muted flash accompanying the magic blade apparently slashing clean through Ruin's body in a rising diagonal cut.

(MUSIC END)

At first, nothing happened; the nature of the strike meant no physical damage, no blood. But then, Ruin let out a strangled gasp, and her Keyblades slipped from her grasp, falling to the ground and disintegrating into Darkness particles. Eyes wide with shock and disbelief, Ruin collapsed to her hands and knees. Within seconds, she could hear, see, and feel as her body began to very slowly come apart, wisps of darkness rising up.

"I'm sorry" she heard Fate's voice say. "You gave me no choice…"

"At least…" Ruin gasped out, somehow even the act of speaking proving difficult "I'll be able to… be with Eve after you people are through with her…"

Fate knelt down in front of her, and then Ruin's face was lifted up to meet Fate's warm red eyes, brimming with sincerity and some sadness.

"Ruin, listen to me" she said. "I swear on my Heart that this is true: We never had any intention of killing Eve. Whoever told you we did was a liar. After learning her story, speaking with her… We want to help her, to _save_ her. …I promise you, Ruin: we _will _help Eve, save her from the hatred and pain that's plagued her for so long, and help her find happiness. …I only wish… that I could've given _you_ that choice, too…"

With honest shock on her face, the gold of Ruin's eyes faded away, revealing red irises just like Fate's. She could feel in her Heart that Fate meant every word she said. Ruin had been deceived, lied to… and it had cost her everything.

"I'm… sorry…" she struggled out. "You know, I actually stopped… caring about forging the χ-Blade… a while ago. Meeting Eve… bonding with her… and interacting with that insufferable Tiida… It all changed me. Recently, all I really wanted… was to be with her, even if that meant… running away with her, killing the people… who hurt her, and then finding somewhere where… nobody could bother us… I would've given up fighting altogether… if it meant her happiness and safety… But that can't happen now."

Fate gave her dark doppelganger a sad smile. "I promise that we'll help her, and take care of her."

Ruin gave a matching smile. "Thank you…"

Ruin closed her eyes, and then the rising wisps of darkness completely obscured her from view, and her black cloak fell limply to the ground. Fate closed her eyes, holding a hand to her heart.

'I promise…' she directed her thought to her fallen foe. 'I won't let this all be in v-'

She was startled after a few seconds by a soft and quiet groan. Opening her eyes, she saw that the black cloak had not completely flattened out. Rather, there seemed to be a small mass or something inside, obscured from sight underneath the large black cloak, and it was moving around a little. Looking on in shocked curiosity, Fate reached out, lightly poking the bundle, and it let out a soft, startled squeak, twitching.

"…Ruin?" she asked.

"…Yes?"

The voice that replied sounded very different indeed – much higher, and softer. The unknown mass began to wriggle more.

"H… How am I still alive? …And why is it so dark?"

Reaching out, Fate pulled the hood and upper area of the cloak down and back, and then gasped in surprise as she finally uncovered from within. Looking up at her, blinking as red eyes adjusted to the light, was a tiny little girl, no older than 3 or 4, with long blue hair with black tips. The little tyke's eyes widened as she looked up at Fate, letting out a gasp.

"H-How are you so big?" she squeaked out. She then looked down at herself, more confused than ever. "Wait… How am I so _small_? What… What happened to me?"

"I… I think I get it…" Fate said, a smile slowly forming. "You started out as a being made from the extracted Darkness of my Heart. You were an incomplete being, with an incomplete Heart. But… just like how Nobodies start out as lacking Hearts, but gradually 'grow' them as they learn experiences and forge bonds with others… Your interactions with Eve and Tiida, the bonds you made with them, helped your Heart gain some Light, and become 'complete'. My Keyblade… it purged the Darkness from you. As you used to be, that would have destroyed you, but because you now had Light in you as well, there was enough of it for you to survive, albeit… reduced."

"So… With the Darkness purged from me, there was only enough Light to put me back together as… this?"

"Something like that, maybe?"

"…How old am I now, anyway?"

A golden pane of light was projected from Bardiche, sweeping over Ruin's new body.

"Scans of cellular structure, telomeres, and other factors indicate a physical age of 4 years, 2 months" the Device reported. "Though, she is below the average height and weight for that age."

"W-What am I gonna do now? I can't look after myself like this!"

"…You're right" Fate replied, her smile growing a little as she observed the cuteness of the tiny tot before her. "You can't. So~…"

Ruin then let out a cute little squeak as Fate scooped her up, holding her close.

"Nanoha and I are already raising one adoptive daughter" she said, gently hugging the little blue-haired toddler. "One more wouldn't hurt."

Ruin's little eyes went wide, and she blushed, but after a few seconds she couldn't help but relax; with how tiny she was, and the effects her de-aged body had on her psyche and instincts, the gentle warmth and embrace was soothing, making her feel secure and safe. She held on a little tighter as Fate slowly stood up, and she blushed a little more as the young woman rocked her back & forth a little, nuzzling her.

The two then turned as they heard an odd noise, seeing as Nanoha used her Instant Transmission to 'jump' to Fate's position. As she cradled a tiny black-haired tot in her arms, Nanoha smiled as she saw who Fate was holding.

"You too, huh?" she said.

The two little ones looked at each other as Nanoha and Fate brought them closer.

"Eve?" Levi asked, tearing up.

"…Ruin?" Eve squeaked out.

"See?" Fate said to Ruin. "I told you; whoever told you we were planning to kill her was a big fat liar. …I guess you're _both_ our little girls now."

Nanoha and Fate moved in close enough for Eve and Ruin to embrace each other while still being held, Ruin letting out a few tears of relief.

Overhead, standing atop a tall rock formation, unnoticed by the quartet below, Saïx frowned. The plan had failed… though, he surmised, there was no way those two would ever be able to pose a threat to them now. Sighing, he opened a Corridor of Darkness and passed through, intent on informing Xehanort and Xigbar of the results.

As she watched the two little ones hugging, Fate looked to Nanoha. "I wonder how Vivio will take the news…"

**-**_**SCENE BREAK**_**-**

"I get _two _adorable new baby sisters?-!" Vivio squealed in delight.

After learning of the situation, the higher-ups had gladly given Nanoha & Fate leave to return home, and at Nanoha's request Fukasaku & Shima had been happy to use some Reverse-Summon trickery to get them back to Midchilda very quickly. Now, at the Testarossa-Takamachi household, Eve and Ruin waited in another room as their new 'mothers' explained things to their new big sister; from the sound of it, Vivio was not at all upset with the situation.

Eve shifted a little in her seat beside Ruin on the couch (which seemed so very big now), and blushed at the sensations and sounds of what she was wearing in response. For some reason – a side-effect of the purification and/or the de-aging, a weird spiteful 'fail-safe' by whoever gave the duo their dark powers, some deity's odd sense of humor – it had been determined that the de-aged duo had been left with no control over 'bathroom functions' whatsoever. From what everyone could tell, this affliction would not start to 'wear off' until Eve was physically 13 and Ruin 14. And considering that anyone who had ever traveled between Realms aged at 1/300th the normal rate, this meant…

"3,000 years…" Ruin muttered, her face blushing bright-red as she looked down at and lightly poked at her thick, cutesy/girly-design diaper, while Eve fidgeted a little in hers. At least they were soft and comfy…

The two de-aged little girls were brought out of their embarrassed musings as Nanoha and Fate re-entered the room, followed by a little 5-year-old with dark-blonde hair and heterochromatic eyes who promptly rushed past them, a big smile on her face as she saw and headed towards the two. Vivio let out a happy little squee as she hugged Eve (being careful not to hurt her), who blushed a little more at the attention but also couldn't help but enjoy it, the cuteness-struck affection making her feel warm inside. Vivio met eyes with her, and a little smile formed on her face to match Vivio's as a sisterly bond was nigh-instantly forged. The process was repeated with Ruin, who couldn't help but giggle a little as her new big sister cuddled her.

'I wonder if I should ask Nanoha-mama & Fate-mama about changing my name…' she thought in the back of her mind. 'I mean, 'Ruin' means destruction and stuff, and I'm not that kind of girl anymore. Hmm… Levi, maybe? …And d-did I just already call them 'mama' in my head?'

Nanoha and Fate sat down beside each other on the couch, pulling Eve and Ruin, respectively, into their laps for hugs. Ruin let out a soft squeak as Fate's hand gently patted her thickly-padded bottom a few times, blushing more and trying to hide her embarrassed face between Fate's breasts, while Eve let out a small coo as Nanoha did the same to her. Vivio giggled a little as she squeezed in between her two mamas.

"I wonder what'll happen next?" Nanoha mused.

"Well," Fate replied, "I've heard the Bureau is already making progress in their plan to construct our own Mass Relay network; the TSAB's territory is large enough to make such a thing practical, considering how much faster that form of travel is than even ship-standard slipspace travel. We did find a few big lodes of element-zero in places we hadn't checked before…"

"Right, and the Sangheili/UNSC Alliance is building their own Relay network too, using that bunch of eezo the Citadel races gave them as thanks for helping so much in the Reaper War."

"What about Amon?" Eve spoke up. "I heard he might be building up for something? And then there's the Protoss' plans to try to retake their world…"

"That's right" Nanoha replied, bouncing little Eve in her lap a bit, making Eve blush but also feel soothed and safe as she hugged her new mama a little tighter. "I can't help but worry if things might snowball really quickly."

"If it does, we'll do what we can, when we can" Fate said, adjusting little Ruin so that her tiny chin rested on Fate's shoulder, her padded butt supported by one hand while the other softly rubbed her back.

Vivio nodded. "Whatever happens, we'll be ready and we'll face it together."

**-**_**BOOK 30 END**_**-**

I don't know how else to put this, so I'm going to come out and say it:

With the completion of this Book, the _Teana's Travels_ series will be entering a hiatus of unknown duration. Well, sort-of unknown; it will likely last until the release of _StarCraft II Part 3: Legacy of the Void_.

I've loved working on this series for the past few years, but with my future plans for it, I'm going to have to let it sit until _LOTV _comes out, because the events of that game will almost certainly be the focus of the next Book. Of course, if _Halo 5_ comes out first, I'm going to have to see where it would fit in the timeline, what changes would have to be made regarding the differences in the _Travels_-verse, and if the time measurement would even allow it to take place before _LOTV _and _KH3_, or if it would have to wait until after those two Books. Though, for my own reasons, _Legacy of the Void_'s Book**will **take place before _Kingdom Hearts III_, even if the latter game comes out first.

Also, I might or might not start work on a separate, unrelated-to-the-_Travels_-verse PreCure fic series (four 'Books' planned, but currently just a skeletal outline of a story) in the meantime.

So, farewell for now, but fear not, because (barring unexpected things like computer annihilation or my death or some such thing) I shall return! I'll see you all again when Amon makes his move (unless _Halo 5_'s Book ends up taking place first). Later!


End file.
